


I Know It's Our Destiny

by StandinShadow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Fluff and Humor, Hunk (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Hunk (Voltron) Has Two Moms, Keith (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Keith and Shiro are Foster Siblings, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Mutual Pining, Neurodiversity, Other, Please let me know if you think I need to add any tags, Takes Place Many Years After Sun and Moon, Trial/Professional Trainer Ages Changed from 11 to 18
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-02 19:46:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 47,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13325214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StandinShadow/pseuds/StandinShadow
Summary: Lance and Hunk are doing their Island Challenge together along with their beloved pokemon teams. However, Lance can't help but feel like they're missing something - and he knows their Vaporeon and Jolteon are missing the third part of their trio. So when Hunk and Lance meet a mysterious boy with a Flareon and sad eyes, they can't help but want to help Keith realize he doesn't have to go at alone.Or the Alola set Voltron Pokemon AU because the idea wouldn't leave my head.Pokemon teams and their incredible nicknames were developed with the help of the incredible Gringle.





	1. Partners

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gringle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gringle/gifts).



> Housekeeping notes: 
> 
> I've moved the age to be a professional trainer/do your island challenge from 11 to 18 both for character and story reasons and because 11 is so young to be going off by yourself so much and I'm worried old lady.
> 
> This fic includes the idea of companion Pokémon, though they don't come up within this chapter. Companion Pokémon are basically any Pokémon that are used for primarily for friendship and not battle, however, all three of the boys' Pokémon as well as Shiro's and Pidge's and Allura's, who will be introduced in the future, also work as kinds of emotional support animals.

  Lance wakes up on his 9th birthday and waits by his door, nervous and excited all at the same time, pulling on the bottom of his blue pajama shirt. He should just push it open, see what’s waiting outside. But Lance is just a little afraid to, because today is the day he’s finally getting his own Pokémon. They don’t let kids do the trials on Alola or the gyms until they’re 18 anymore, even though Lance definitely could beat all of them right now, but no, he has to go to school. But kids are allowed to build their teams before that, and Lance’s parents have given each of their kids their first Pokémon on their 9th birthday.

  Lance never decided which Pokémon he wanted first, instead going back and forth between a list his older sister Maya called ‘excessive’. Just because she knew she wanted a chansey because she’s always wanted to be a nurse. Lance’s last list included mostly legendary Pokémon, so he doesn’t think he’s gonna get any of them. But he knows that whatever he gets, he’s gonna love them so much and they’re going to be the best team in PLACE in a few years. That’s what counts.

  Lance finally gathers up the courage to push open his door open, glancing around the hallway curiously, his stuffed squirtle under his arm. He walks down the hallway, feet curling into the soft blue carpet as he tries to hear the sounds of something besides his sister’s Chansey or his brother’s muchlax’s snores. Lance turns the corner and finds himself by the kitchen, hearing his mother’s quiet whispers, cut off by a brand-new sound, one that makes his heart beat in warp speed.

  “Chikorita! Chika!” sings out across the room as Keith comes through the swinging kitchen doors. There in front of him is a chikorita, staring up at him with big red eyes. Lance kneels down in front of them, nervously waving over at the chikorita. The chikorita stares at him blankly for a moment and then runs over to him, jumping into Lance’s arms and almost knocking him over, their leaf brushing against his face and tickling him.

  “Do you like her, Lance?” his mom asks with a knowing grin as she looks over them, Lance’s arms wrapped tight around chikorita, and chikorita nuzzling his face gently.

  Lance smiles, wide and easy, because for him it’s love at first sight. chikorita might not have been on his list, but he can see now that that was a major oversight. She’s playful and bold and loves hugs, just like him! Lance runs his finger across chikorita as he looks up at his mother with wide, pleading eyes. “Yes, yes, can I keep her?”

  “You’ll have to ask her,” His mom answers with a soft grin, shaking her head a little as she hands Lance a pokeball. Lance holds it between his hands reverently, staring down at the ball. It’s his first one, the first poke ball he’s ever been allowed to hold that isn’t for play. Getting this means he’s on the path to becoming a real trainer. More immediately, it means he can capture and keep chikorita as his partner and not just a family pet. If she’ll let him, Lance thinks as he swallows, his nerves rising a little as he stares down at the green Pokémon in his lap. What if she says no?

  “Can I keep you? Do you like the name Lola?” Lance asks softly as he holds the ball up to her, watching with bated breath as she stares at it blankly. Lance feels like he’s about to throw up when suddenly chikorita leans forward and bumps the ball with her nose, getting sucked inside. The ball lands softly between his hands. Lola chose him! Lance smiles at that, laughing as he lets her back out and she climbs in his lap and preens.

  for the first year after he gets Lola, it’s just the two of them together, wandering around his neighborhood and practicing battling with the other kids. Lola also helps Lance climb up trees with her vines, which is super cool. She doesn’t like going with him when he visits the ranch, but Lance figures that’s just because she’s so much smaller than the Miltank and Tauros, which won’t be as much of a problem when she’s a Bayleef in a few years.

  Except when he mentions that to Lola one night when they’re sitting on his bed, she cowers and then hides behind one of his pillows. Not the reaction he was going for.

   “You don’t like Bayleef, Lola?” Lance murmurs after a beat, eyebrows scrunching together as he thinks back to the time his sister’s chansey Matilda evolved into a blissey. She’d been moody all day, even though Matilda had been happy about it. Lance thought she was jealous, but now he thinks it might be the opposite problem. 

  “Chikorita!” She cries as she lunges out from behind the pillow, rapidly shaking her head back and forth so her leaf shook in the air. Lance leans over and rubs a hand across her back, making soothing noises as he rubs a hand up and down her back. Lola slowly comes to sit on his lap and looks up at him with sad eyes, scared eyes. Lance knows that look pretty well from the mirror already.

   “Okay, okay, you don’t need to evolve then,” Lance promises her with a quick nod, already thinking of how to save up for an everstone. Lola would look cute with a necklace. Then Lance gives Lola another quick pat, grinning as he threw one hand in the air. “We’ll still be the best team in this league either way.”

  Lola bounces around in his lap, and that’s the end of that conversation. Well, at least where Lola’s concerned. 

* * *

   A year before, in another part of Alola, Lance wasn’t the only kid waking up to find himself with a new friend.

  Hunk wakes up with a slow yawn, the long sleeve of his yellow and orange pajama shirt gently brushing against his cheek as he sits up in his bed. He blinks a little, wondering why his room is so dark as he runs his hands over the pillows and tries to find his light switch. Normally there’s enough natural sunlight to wake him up by itself. He hopes it’s not storming, he wanted to go to the beach to collect sea shells –

  The Hunk looks out his window to see the weather and comes face to face with a face.

  Hunk lets out a small scream, flopping back on his bed. The face lets out a small whine, pulling back a little. That’s when Hunk processes what it is. An onix! Hunk sits up straight in his bed, taking in the round and sharp angles and small, currently hurt eyes of the onix in front of him. Hunk runs over to his window and pulls it open, brushing a hand over the onix’s face with a bright smile until onix lets out a loud, happy sound. Good.

  “Moms! It’s an onix, an onix for me?!” Hunk shouts as he runs out of his room and downstairs and around the corner so he can go on his front porch. The onix was in his window and his brother Robbie already has a geodude and his moms don’t collect Rock types like them. He can see the long, snake like body of the Onix as they pull away from the window and bring their head down so it’s only a few inches away from Hunk. Hunk leans over and brushes his hand over their face and lets the onix nuzzle him even though it’s kind of rough. Hunk doesn’t really mind. His mama, Talia, leans over and hands him a pokeball with a wide grin. Hunk grins, holding the ball up and then stops, eyebrows scrunching together as he bites his lip. “But it’s not my birthday, or – it’s not any holiday.”

  “No, but you’ll be in fifth grade next year, which means you’ll be starting fight training at the poke school when you go on weekends,” his mom, Sefina, reminds him with a grin, her curls bouncing around her face as she leans over to pet onix. Hunk feels himself deflate a little, biting his lip as his gaze drops to the grass below his feet. Right. Next year he has to fight with the other kids. “I thought it was time to get you a partner to fight with.”

  “… Yeah, that’s … cool,” Hunk mutters softly as he takes the pokeball that Mama is holding, her smile soft and knowing as she gives him a gentle push back toward onix. Hunk glances at him and decides he looks like a Pyrite when he sees the way the sun hits his long stone body, and gives him a weak smile. Pyrite is still the coolest Pokémon in the world and Hunk still loves him, he just doesn’t want to battle. Hunk leans in and holds up the pokeball, gently tapping Pyrite on the nose and watching as he slides into the ball somehow. Someday Hunk’s gonna know how.

  Hunk takes care of his Pyrite, brings him lots of poke treats and learns how to make them himself, cleans dirt off Pyrite, and tries to figure out what kind of toys Pyrite can use. It’s an extra-large beach ball. But Hunk can’t help but be a little distant at first, going for long walks and to school and leaving Pyrite in their backyard. Sometimes Hunk can feel his sad eyes boring into his back and feels really guilty, but Pyrite is an onix. He’s huge and strong and Hunk knows he probably wants to get into all of the battles the other kids have started at research.

  And, Hunk thinks as he walks through his backyard one summer night with Pyrite right behind him and staying close, Pyrite deserves better. He deserves a brave, bold trainer whose excited for battles instead of suspicious and scared and – Hunk stops mid-step and starts screaming. Right in front of him is a black ball with a face, two fangs dangerously close to his face. It’s a gastly!

  “Oni! Onix!” Pyrite cries suddenly and throws his head back, eyes wide and pulling away from Hunk and curling in on himself. Hunk stares, wondering if Pyrite is about to roll out and whack the gastly in the face, or maybe start growling. But instead Pyrite only rolls in on himself more, letting out another pitiful whine as the gastly turns between the two of them. “Onix!!”

  “Wait, Pyrite, are you … afraid of Ghastly?” Hunk asks in a soft voice as he takes a few steps toward Pyrite, smiling as he brushes a hand across Pyrite’s face. Pyrite looks down in what might be shame (can Pokémon feel shame?) or might be fear, shaking his head a little. Hunk wraps his arms around Pyrite’s next, shooting the gastly a tight glare until he eventually floats away and out of sight. Hunk and Pyrite let out a sigh of relief in unison. Then Hunk gives Pyrite a brighter smile and wiggles his eyebrows. “No, don’t feel bad, I’m scared too. Who even knows what ghosts can really do?”

  “Onix,” Pyrite answers quietly and then when Hunk smiles and nods, his bangs hitting him in the face, Pyrite’s expression grows brighter. Pyrite gently bumps Hunk in the chest, turning his head again a bit to the left. “Onix?”

  “Yeah, let’s go home, Pyrite, I’ll make you some poke treats, I got a new recipe,” Hunk promises him with a grin, taking off his headband and wrapping it around the top of Pyrite’s stone horn as well as he can. Hunk’s mom gave it to him as a good luck charm so he could always be brave, so if he gives this one to Pyrite and asks his mom for a new one, and they can be brave together. But for right now, as Hunk slides his legs over Pyrite’s neck and lets him stretch out to Hunk’s balcony, he’s happy for them to be scared together too. That’s what being partners is all about after all.

* * *

   A few months later, one last boy got his starter too, nearby on Ula’ula Island. Keith wakes up with his arms still wrapped tightly around his stuffed Gloom doll, squeezing it softly as he slowly opens his eyes. He glances at the clock, seeing 6:00 AM shining back at him in a bright red.

  Normally Keith would go back to sleep, especially on a Saturday, but then he remembers what day it is. His birthday! Keith jumps out of his bed, pulling back his bright red sheets and sliding on his favorite pair of slippers. They have pyukumuku on them, and Keith always feels like he’s going to the beach when he wears them. 

  Keith walks downstairs, peeking around the corners of each room and trying to find his mom or dad. They usually make him a special breakfast on his birthday, and Keith’s really banking on pancakes. Keith makes his way into the kitchen, smelling something soft and sweet, but then he hears something crying. Keith frowns tightly as he kneels down on the floor, looking around carefully for his dad’s umbreon or his mom’s clefairy to see if they’re hurt or sick. Instead he comes face to face with a small blue Pokémon, black floppy ears brushing his face as the Pokémon leans forward, it’s tiny black nose bumping Keith’s own.

  Keith stares at the Pokémon with wide eyes, mouth hanging open as the Pokémon bats him on the cheek with its paw. Keith knows this Pokémon, has a poster of them on his line. He wrote a book report on them last year and he got an A and his teacher said his research was really impressive. But he’s never, ever seen one in person before.

  “Oh my gosh, that’s a riolu!” Keith shouts as he runs down the hallway, the riolu running by his side until they get to the porch. Keith sees his mom’s long black ponytail and she turns around with a warm smile as her clefairy, Linda, comes up next to her and waves at him happily. Keith sees his dad sitting next to her, grinning as he starts sliding pancakes onto a plate and pushes the plate towards Keith. Keith’s gaze snaps between them, mouth hanging open as he stares at them. Keith can’t understand why they’re not more excited! One of them has a riolu now! Keith’s never thought they were cooler! “Dad, mom, you guys got a riolu?!”

  “Not my birthday, Keith,” His mom teases softly as she leans over and ruffles his hair gently, eyes sparkling as she stares at him. Keith stares back at her for a long time and then bites his lip, shooting a quick glance at his dad, who’s hiding a laugh behind his hand. Suddenly Keith gets it and he has to sit down on the ground, crossing his legs underneath him. 

  “Wait – you mean – you’re for me?” Keith whispers to the riolu he’s now eye to eye with, reaching out a hand to brush a hand over riolu’s ears. riolu lets out a small mewling sound, batting Keith with his paw again gently. 

  “Riolu!” riolu calls as he pushes into Keith’s arms until Keith is holding riolu half in his lap. Keith rubs his head, smiling brightly as the riolu curls into a ball, letting out a small giggle. Who knew they acted so much like a puppy? Keith grins as the riolu gently nips the front of shirt, gazing Keith up at him with his bright red eyes. Then riolu shifts in his lap, and lets out another bark. Keith can hear his parents laughing next to him and Keith starts giggling too, throwing his hands out as riolu bumps his chest again and almost knocks him over. “Rio!”

  “I think that Riolu likes you,” His dad says with a wink, getting up from his chair and walking over to kneel down next to them both. Keith glances up at his dad with raised eyebrows, hands forming into fists. Keith can’t help waving them in the air a little bit, excitement overwhelming him because he finally has a Pokémon of his own. His dad hands him a poke ball, and Keith stares at with wide eyes, because oh right, he has to ask riolu first. Keith holds the ball up to riolu, biting his lip anxiously, but riolu bats the button with his hand and glides into the poke ball as Keith watches with wide eyes. “You’ll have to work hard together, you know, to become big and strong.”

  “Does that mean I can finally have play battles with other kids?” Keith asks in a low, awe filled voice as he opens the ball back up, watching as riolu pops back out and sits on the ground in front of him. riolu stares at Keith with big soft, curious eyes, cocking his head to the left at the same time Keith does. Keith decides he’s gonna call him Robert. He feels like a Robert. Keith lifts his hand up and makes it into a fist, slowly balling his hand into a fist. Robert stares back at him and lifts up paw and curls it in the same shape that Keith did.

  “Maybe next year, sweetheart,” His mom answers with a small shake of her head, gaze tight and a little worried as she leans over and unclenches his hand. Keith pouts up at her, bangs falling across his face as Keith rolls to his feet. His mom’s always been more overprotective of him than the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. She doesn’t even let him walk to school by himself. Keith sighs and walks Robert to the table, sneaking him tiny bites of his pancake when his dad isn’t looking and sharing secret smiles with his mom. He loves her, but he wishes his mom would stop babying him soon. He _is_ 10 already.

  And his mom does, but not because she stops, but because one day Keith wakes up and his parents are just gone. Keith searches the house for them and waits and waits, and no one comes. Three days later his neighbors drive him to Aether Paradise and that’s that. Keith hugs Robert and tries to hide in the corners of the rooms, because all the other kids are either way older than him or way younger, and he feels out of place. Nobody here makes him pancakes or teaches him how to play soccer. Keith’s alone now and he has to be an adult, not a baby.

  Keith wishes he hadn’t wished so hard.   

* * *

  Six months after that, Lance almost trips over a goomy. Said goomy understandably didn’t like almost being stepped on by a kid trying to jump through puddles, but Lola couldn’t know that. She just saw a goomy trying to blow bubbles at him. Lola uses razor leaf, leaves fluttering through the air and sharply knocking into the poor goomy’s side before she has time to get more than a few weak bubbles out. 

  The brunt force of the leaves also knocks the goomy into the sunlight. Lance’s pretty sure goomy can’t go into the sunlight without like dying, so he does the only thing he can think of and throws the spare pokeball at his waist at her. He watches anxiously as the ball rolls back and forth, once, twice, three times, and then stops and stills, the light slowly going out. He – he caught his first Pokémon! And it’s a dragon type to boot! Lance grins as he picks up the ball – and then remembers that he doesn’t know if goomy is injured and quickly lets her out.

  Goomy seems fine, quickly sliding around Lance’s legs and half hugging her with what he guesses are her arms? He still takes her to the poke center just in case, though. He’s not a nurse after all, who knows what signs he could be missing?

  “Hey, Goomy, can I call you Betsy?” Lance asks with a small smile as they sit in the waiting room, Chikorita on leg and goomy on the other. goomy bounces excitedly on his leg under his jacket, so Lance decides that’s a yes. He bites his lips, glancing at the everstones he still can’t quite afford out of the corner of his eye. “Betsy, if you don’t wanna evolve – “

  “Goomy!” Betsy cries as she bounces on his legs, sliding down his thigh (and okay, the ooze is going to take some getting used to, but Lance’ll get there). Lance follows her gaze to find her staring longingly at a poster of a kid a few years older than him with a goodra by their side.

  “I’ll take that as a yes, you do want to grow up be a beautiful goodra, to match the handsome man I’ll blossom into,” Lance says with a smirk, wriggling his eyebrows as Betsy starts bouncing again. This pair of jeans is probably ruined. On his other leg Chikorita huffs, turning away from both of them. Lance snorts, bring his hand down to run it over back until she peeks a quick glance at him. “You’re already beautiful, Lola.”

  Lola cheers right up after that, bouncing alongside Betsy as they sit through a checkup that determines both of them are fine. Lance’s mom is surprised but not mad when he comes home with two Pokémon in his arms, but she does remind him that this means he needs to make sure to keep the carpet and furniture safe from Betsy. Lance builds her a little pen in his room with lots of poke toys and maximum shade, and she pretty much never leaves it.

  On the plus side, that means Betsy is safe, but on the downside, that means she doesn’t get to be there a few weeks later when Lance and Lola find the third member of their future championship team. 

  They’re walking in the tall grass together when Lance almost trips over an aron, who looks listless and a little sick. Lance frowns tightly, kneeling down so he can get a better look at it. The Aron glances up at him and howls a little bumping his hand. Lance has no idea if that’s a good sign or not. They don’t cover sick Pokémon until seventh grade. Lance still wraps his jacket over her – he thinks it’s a her – just in case. He wonders if he should carry her to the pokecenter or call the pokecenter – then aron lets out another pitiful whine.

  “Hey there, Aron, buddy, are you okay?” Lance murmurs softly as she pushes her way into his lap, his own eyebrows scrunching together in confusion as she keeps nudging at his jacket. Wait no – she’s nudging at his poke ball. Lance holds it up to her and watches as she bumps it again, gaze soft and hopeful as she wobbles forward and tries to hit it again. “You like my pokeball? Do you – do you want me to catch you?”

  Aron cries positively and Lance carefully pokes her in the face with a pokeball, watching with wide as she goes in it without a fight. Lance didn’t even know Pokémon did that so easily, but apparently sometimes all you have to do is be nice to them! School always makes it seem like everything has to be a fight. Lance grins, running a hand through his curly brown hair and smiling off into the distance as he starts down the hill, ignoring the feel of the rocks under his feet as he makes his way down the mountain.

  Lance makes another quick trip to the Poke center to get some medicine for Aron, who he’s decided to call Genevieve, and slides her under one arm. Lance gets home late, greeted by a worried look from his mom and his sister Maya making a quick exit. Lance shrugs, scrunching his eyebrows together as he glances at his mom, because he knows it’s still before curfew and he didn’t go further than he’s supposed to alone. 

  “Mom! Meet Genevieve,” Lance calls with a bright smile, a few locks of hair falling across his eyes as he holds Genevieve up in the air. His mom looks surprised, eyes widening. A little. But then she smiles as she leans over to pet Genevieve, gaze gentle as Genevieve nuzzles into her hand a bit.

  “Three already, Lance? You’re only 12,” His mom answers after a beat, still letting Genevieve push into her hand playfully. Her gaze is tight, eyebrows scrunched together as her smile fades a little. Lance doesn’t know why she’s upset, kids his age used to be living on their own already! Well, some kids. Lance still wants to live at home when he takes his Island challenge when he’s 18, because then he doesn’t have to take all of his clothes with him everywhere.

  “Gotta get started so I can be the very best in six years,” Lance tells her brightly, grinning as he gives Genevieve another quick pat before letting her go back into her poke ball. She seems to like it more than either Lola or Betsy do. Maybe it’s because she’s a steel type and the poke ball is kind of metal? Lance glances up to find his mom still looking a little wistful and hugs her on the side, earning him a quick kiss on the forehead. He doesn’t understand why she asks him not to grow up _too_ fast, but he promises not to anyway. After all, if Lola isn’t going to, why should he? 

 

* * *

On another part of Akala Island, Hunk turned 11 and caught his second Pokémon by accident. Well, kind of. Hunk’s walking home from school with Pyrite at his side when a wild carbink floats out of them from the inside of a nearby cave, jewels shining in the morning sun. Pyrite protectively curls around Hunk, though he can see the hint of fear in his gaze. This is the first time a wild Pokémon’s leaped out at them like this. Hunk takes a few steps back, hands up, but the carbink apparently know the universal signal for ‘not a threat’ because they lunge toward Hunk, moving at a speed Hunk can’t even hope to imitate.

  Hunk closes his eyes and waits for the impact, scrunching up his face because he knows this is going to hurt. But then nothing happens.

  Hunk opens his eyes and sees Pyrite pushing the carbink back with his head, the carbink slowly moving back as though being repelled by the world’s weakest magnet. Hunk’s pretty sure this isn’t a real move, but he’s still proud of Pyrite either way. Hunk brushes Pyrite’s back, ready to tell him he did well and they’re going home, when disaster strikes. Pyrite presses forward at the same time the carbink suddenly lunges again. Pyrite, with his superior size and weight, just looks a little dizzy. Poor carbink falls to the ground, letting out small whimpers of pain.

  Hunk runs over, pressing one hand over his mouth and jumping up and down, because what does he do? Does he pick carbink up and take him to the pokecenter? But people aren’t supposed to lift injured people, that probably applies to injured Pokémon too, right? And carbink is a rock, so they’re probably really heavy. Hunk bites his hand a little, glancing back and forth from Pyrite to the slowly fainting carbink. He needs to do something.

  Hunk lets out a small sigh and grabs the pokeball from his belt and tosses it at the carbink, watching as the Pokémon is easily sucked in. he feels guilty not asking, but he doesn’t know how else to get them to the pokecenter. And if they don’t like him, he can always release him after he gets back.

  One trip to the pokecenter later, and Hunk finds out that carbink are actually only 12 lbs. and that the newly minted Chalcedony adores him. She floats next to his head all the time and makes happy noises every time he pets her, so Hunk thinks this all worked out for the best. His moms are really proud of him for catching his first Pokémon too, though the smile he gives them when they tell him that is a little faked.

  A few weeks after he brings Chalcedony home, Hunk is sitting in his room watching Professor Kukui give a lecture on TV and lets out a deep sigh. From the window, Pyrite makes a questioning whine and on his bed Chalcedony hops up and down next to him. Right, subtly has never been his strong suit.

  “Pyrite, can I tell you and Chalcedony a secret?” Hunk whispers as he looks at Pyrite, who moves his head closer to the bed. Eventually he’s able to rest it next to Hunk, who puts one hand on top of his head and the other on Chalcedony’s. Hunk needs the moral support here. He knows what he’s about to say would shock his family, and it’s like, probably not something Pokémon want to hear either? But then, neither Pyrite or Chalcedony are big fighters, so maybe not.

  Pyrite looks up at him and gently (well, as gently as an onix can) bumps him with his nose. Hunk smiles and gives him another pat. “Onix!”

  “Car!” Chalcedony calls from next to him, rolling a little closer so she’s pressed up next to him. Hunk has no idea if they can really understand what he’s saying, or just their names and his tone, but either way he has their attention. That’s what counts.

  “I don’t wanna be a trainer,” Hunk tells them softly as he runs a hand over both their heads again, trying to ease his own anxious as he glances down at his bright yellow comforter. It’s Jolteon themed and Hunk wonders if someone who doesn’t want to be a trainer can even have the toughest eevolution. But Hunk pushes the thought away, scrunching his nose as his voice at once takes on both a stronger and sadder quality. “I want to be a professor, like the ones who work at all the big science labs around here. Do you guys want to go with me?” 

  “Onix,” Pyrite says happily, nuzzling Hunk again as he pushes his head toward him, brushing Hunk’s cheek with his snout. Hunk grins as he runs a hand over Pyrite’s face, because yeah, Pyrite’s not going anywhere. Hunk knows that in his bones. They’ve been together for a year now, and they’ve been on the same page about everything, from what to be afraid of to who to befriend.

  Chalcedony floats up and down next to him, pushing against his other cheek as though to remind him she’s in the room. She makes a small cry, but one that’s more happy and sad as she spins out away from him. “Binx!”

  “That’s what I thought, you too are the best,” Hunk tells them with a bright grin, giving them both another quick pat before he flops back on the bed. He knows his team will stay by his side no matter what his dreams are, as long as he takes care of them and makes sure they’re getting everything they need to. That’s what a partnership is all about, after all.

   Months pass by, and Hunk grows closer and closer to both his Pokémon, until he can barely remember life before he had them. They go everywhere together, walking around Heahea city and exploring all the parks near his house. Sometimes Pyrite has to go back into his ball, because he’s so much bigger than well, everything around him, but not when they’re at the beach or on the wider city streets. Hunk has no idea what they’re going to do if they ever visit Malie City or somewhere with narrow streets.

  Some days though, when Hunk’s feeling brave, he’ll venture up the path that leads toward the battle dome. Kids technically are allowed to practice battling there, but Hunk doesn’t even like to watch. It seems way too risky and what if Pyrite or Chalcedony get scared? Hunk can’t’ risk it. But the grassy area in between that leads up to Paniola Town if he kept walking for a few hours? That Hunk can handle.

  Or he normally can, but today Hunk finds himself face to face with a mudbray crying softly on the ground, kicking his legs out. But only three of them. Hunk runs over, glancing down with a tight frown. The mudbray has their leg caught in an old, rusty trap, probably a remnant of Team Skull or Team Rainbow Rocket or – well, there were a lot of bad guys 30 years ago, but that’s not the point. The point is that Hunk needs to free this poor Pokémon from this trap.

  “Hey there, little Mudbray, I’m gonna get your leg out of this trap, okay?” Hunk asks as he kneels down next to the mudbray, softly running one hand over their mane to soothe them. Then he leans down more, glancing at the trap with a tight frown. It’s not a fancy one luckily, and Hunk pulls out his trusty screwdriver from his backpack (because you can never be _too_ prepared). A few turns of the screw and the mudbray pulls their leg free, hopping to the ground shakily. “There you, go, now you can run home.” 

  “Mudbray!!” Mudbray calls as they suddenly push up against Hunk, hitting their face against one of the pokeballs him mom makes him carry on his waist. Hunk raises an eyebrow, because what is the little mudbray doing? Mudbray bumps it again, and then nuzzles his arm a little as they push their way until they’re almost completely on top of him.  “Bray.” 

  “Oh, you’re just gonna get in there, huh?” Hunk asks as he holds up the pokeball on his waist so mudbray can see it more clearly. He expects them to maybe run now that they can see what it is more clearly, but instead mubray lets out an excited cry and pushes him over some more. Hunk watches in amazement as they push the button with their nose, willingly going into his ball. “Okay.” 

  Had Hunk known you could just offer a Pokémon a ball or ask, he probably would’ve started doing that a lot earlier. Like with Chalcedony. But, sometimes lessons have to be learned the hard way, Hunk guesses, as he makes his way home, pokeball firmly between his hands. He thinks he’ll call mudbray Almandine. Three Pokémon by sixth grade. He’s not doing too bad for someone who doesn’t want to be a trainer. 

 

* * *

Meanwhile on U Island, 11-year-old Keith was still very lonely, even if he did love his partner Robert, still a riolu even though they’ve been training everyday outside of Aether House. But that’s about to change.

  Keith walks outside down at the beach by Acerola’s trial site, digging his toes into the sand as he watches people walk by. Since Tapu Village started being rebuilt a few years back, there are more families here now. Keith doesn’t want to be … he’s _not_ jealous. He doesn’t want to be fostered or adopted. He wants his parents to come back. But he’s pretty sure they can’t. No one’s used the d word but Keith’s also not a stupid little kid. He knows the score. If people go missing for six months without coming back, they’re not coming back. He has to take care of himself now.

  The people at the Aether House are nice though, and they let him keep some of his stuff and they lend him fishing poles when he wants to go to the beach. Keith guesses that’s kind of cool, but he still misses Malie City. Keith sighs as he throws the line out again, wondering what he’ll catch this time. Maybe he’ll catch a wailord, though he doesn’t think they come this close to the shore. Keith’ll be happy with anything, though. He just wants to see a new Pokémon up close. He only gets to see the ones at Aether House, and they’re cool, but they belong there and Keith and Robert don’t.

  Keith throws out his reel, watching as it flies through the air, hitting the water with a slow splash. A beat passes, and then another, and then _another_ , with no bites. Keith groans and glares down at the water, because why is this taking so long? Keith’s ready to pull the real back when suddenly he’s pulled forward, stumbling a little as the line’s pulled forward. This must be a real tough Pokémon. Keith pulls on the reel, gripping it tighter and tugging until he hears a splash, and sees orange scales flying through the air. It’s a magikarp.

  Magikarp. Weak and small – _now_. But not in the future. Magikarp grow up to be strong and powerful, free to do anything and everything they want, able to protect themselves and everything they care about. Keith starts pulling the reel in ferociously, biting his lip as he tugs harder and harder, because he needs this magikarp. Keith finally pulls as hard as he can, magikarp flying in the air and then landing in his waiting arms. They both hit the ground hard. 

  Keith groans as he hit the ground pretty hard, sand flying up around him as he wraps his arms around magikarp. Magikarp flops on top of him for a few seconds, panic in their eyes. Keith can relate to that. Keith pulls out one of his pokeballs, holding it up to the magikarp and trying to gauge their interest. Now that he’s a little calmer, he doesn’t want to take away the magikarp’s freedom. But magikarp flops excitedly on his lap and Keith decides that’s probably a yes in Pokémon. It was for Robert. Keith throws the ball down, watching as magikarp’s pulled in, ball landing where they were and rolling back and forth once before stopping. 

  “A magikarp? Hey look, Robert, we have a new friend,” Keith calls as he holds the pokeball up to Robert, whose been watching from where he’s digging holes in the sand from a few feet away.

  Robert stares up at him before running over, poking at the ball with his paw. Robert gives Keith a look that feels doubtful, making small confused noises in the back of his throat. Keith wonders if Robert’s jealous. But the Robert pokes the ball again, and Keith realizes that’s not the deal. Robert wants to see his new friend. Keith goes back to the water side, letting magikarp out. Up close he can see that their whiskers are white, which means they’re a girl. Robert looks down at her with a small mewl. “Riolu?”

  “Yeah, she’s kind of small right now, but someday she’ll be big and strong and no one’ll be able to hurt her, just like us,” Keith says as he kneels down in front of magikarp, running his hands over her scales with a look of determination. He’s going to raise her to be a gyarados and Robert to be a lucario and then –

  Well, Keith doesn’t know what comes after that yet, but he’ll figure it out. The point is that they’ll do it. 

  “Magi?” The Magikarp murmurs as she brushes her face into his hand. Keith smiles and pulls out a part of his lunch and feeds her a little bit, sighing in relief when she happily splashes in the water. He’ll have to get more pokebeans later. He glances down at her, Karen he decides, and sees such trust, such love. Keith can’t let her down.   

  “That’s right, just the three of us,” Keith answers her look with another quick brush, before holding up his pokeball. They need to get back to Aether House before homework time, and besides Keith needs to redo his training schedule now that he’s got two Pokémon.

  things are okay for a while after that, people coming in and out for visits with the younger kids, Keith hiding behind potted plants so he could spot their Pokémon. Not because he’s shy or awkward. That would be stupid. Keith just wants to know what’s going on so he can keep the higher ground. In his room, he keeps Karen in a bowl and Robert next to him, but he doesn’t let them out unless they’re mostly alone. He’s not really supposed to have another Pokémon here. 

  But then, Keith’s never been great with rules he doesn’t understand and not having more Pokémon makes no sense to him. How are they all going to do the Island Challenge in six years if they only have one Pokémon from the start?

  Still, Keith’s good at following all of the other rules at Aether House, until they tell him a family wants to foster him around his 11th birthday. Then Keith’s suddenly not very good at them, especially curfew and going out alone after dark with 10 fresh waters, 14 potions, and a loaf of bread. Keith’s read the Boxcar children, he knows this will work out fine.

  Keith’s halfway to the ruins when he almost trips over what he thinks is a rock. But then he kneels down and sees that it’s actually a skull and in that skull is a small, adorable face with teary eyes. Cubone.

  “You’re all alone, huh?” Keith asks the cubone as he kneels down in front of them, crossing his arms over his chest as he reaches a hand out toward the other Pokémon hesitantly. Cubone glances back at him, cocking their head a little as though they understand him. Or maybe they just recognize the quiet sense of loss in Keith’s voice, the confused, lonely feeling of being abandoned. At least cubone doesn’t have to wonder if his mom just picked up and left him. “I know that you wear your mom’s skull, right? I carry my mom’s knife around. I think she was part of something called the Ultra Recon Squad? I don’t know. But if you want, you could come with us.”

  “Cubone!” Cubone cries excitedly, throwing their arms in the air as he curls into Keith a little. Up close, Keith can tell their a fried, tired but maybe also injured. Keith thinks they must have lost their mom recently. The thought makes him frown and pull a pokeball out of his pocket, carefully holding it up in front of the cubone just in case they change their mind. But cubone bats the ball with their hand, getting sucked inside eagerly. Keith smiles, soft and crooked as he presses the three pokeballs to his chest.

  “Welcome to the team, buddy,” Keith whispers softly to his new friend. He thinks he might call this one Spike because he’s kind of like a dinosaur and that feels like a dinosaur’s name. He smiles at the pokeballs and takes another step forward to freedom.

  Except, now he doesn’t have enough medicine or poke food. He only planned for two. Keith bites his lip and lets out a small sigh, turning and making the slow walk back to Aether House. He crawls through the window they leave open for some of the taller Pokémon and puts the waters back in the fridge and the loaf back on the shelf.  he sits in his room, holding the pokeballs to his chest as he lies down. Maybe it won’t be so bad, at his new house. There’ll probably be more room for them all and maybe he’ll be able to the battle tree, maybe his foster parents will be like his parents. Maybe Keith can learn to love them too. 

  In the end it doesn’t matter, because after they meet Keith they decide they don’t want him after all. Keith pretends it doesn’t hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance's Team: Lola the Chikorita, Betsy the Goomy, Genevieve the Aron
> 
> Hunk's Team: Pyrite the Onix, Chalcedony the Carbink, Alamandine the Mudbray
> 
> Keith's Team: Robert the Riolu, Karen the Magikarp, Spike the Cubone


	2. New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eevees for everyone!

Several months after they found all these new Pokémon, all three boys came to the same place. But only two met.

  Lance wanders into the pokecenter, glancing around the room as he tries to find the newborn eevees. He saw on the news this morning that two trainers’ eevees both had a whole litter of eevees they couldn’t keep, so the first 10 kids who got there this afternoon would get their own eevee for free. Lance knows he has a lot of Pokémon for 13 already, but he loves eevee so much and isn’t the fact that his three are doing so well proof that he’s trustworthy? Lance likes to think of it that way.

  Lance wanders into the pokecenter, running up to nurse Joy, bouncing on one foot as he stares up at her hopefully. He’s almost as tall as her now, he notices idly as Nurse Joy gives him a knowing look and points down the closest hallway. Lance gives her a bright smile and breaks into a full run, pushing through the wide white doors. In a large pen, he sees 12 baby eevees rolling around together, playfully jumping back and forth. Lance lets out a relieved sigh as he climbs over the edge of the pen, kneeling down and gazing out over the eevees.

  One of them, with slightly bigger eyes and feet than the other, hobbles toward him. Lance waves at them, watching as they cock their head back and forth to follow his hand. Lance smiles softly, carefully reaching out a hand to brush their head softly. Eevee curls into his hand and lets out a soft mewl, and yeah, this one is for him. Lance picks them and carries them through the white doors and down the hallway to Nurse Joy, handing over his Junior Trainer ID and his parental permission slip with it. 

 Nurse Joy gives him a warm smile as she types in his information, waiting to see if anything bad comes up. Lance hopes that time he tried to leave school during recess doesn’t come up. But Nurse Joy gives him a quick nod, handing him a piece of paper with a sheet full of information about this specific eevee. It turns out she’s a girl, likes being in her pokeball as much as she does out, and she loves swimming, just like him.

  Lance puts his new eevee into a pokeball, holding her between his hands and glancing at the ball as though it’ll reveal her name to him? Jewel? Aquafina? Winnifred? Winnie. That name makes Lance grin, turning the ball back and forth between his hands as he takes another few steps forward – right into the chest of another boy, making them both stumble toward the ground.

  “Hey! Are you here to get an eevee too?” Lance asks as he looks up at the other boy, whose wearing brown jean shorts and yellow hoodie with a pikachu on the right sleeve. He has soft brown eyes and a sheepish grin on his face, dark brown hair falling over his eyes. Most importantly, he’s Lance’s age. Lance loves his siblings, but they’re all older and Maya went off to Unova for college this year. He wouldn’t mind spending some time a kid his own age. “Oh, and sorry for running into you. I’m Lance, my family and I live on the Paniola ranch down the road.” 

  “I’m Hunk – wait you live on Paniola Town? With all those tauros?” Hunk answers with wide eyes as he rolls forward, offering Lance a hand. They both stand up and walk over to Nurse Joy, where Hunk holds up a pokeball. Out pops an eevee, who Nurse Joy takes along with Hunk’s information with a small chuckle. Lance gives Hunk a look of surprise, only to scrunch his eyebrows when he realizes Hunk is _still_ staring at him with wide eyes. Does he have something in his teeth? “You must be so brave!” 

  “I am,” Lance says solemnly now that he knows why Hunk is staring, giving the other boy a firm nod. Then he smiles, cocking his head a little as he glances over at the onix in the window, whose bumping Hunk with the back of his head. He’s only seen onix do that to their trainers before. “But you must be too, if you’re going around riding on an onix.” 

  “Pyrite was my starter, we’re best friends,” Hunk tells him with a small grin, leaning over to rub a hand over Pyrite’s head. Pyrite lets out a small grunt, nuzzling his stony horn into Hunk’s palm. Lance never really thought of onix as cute until now. Suddenly Hunk leans forward, gaze growing more nervous and a light flush coming over his face as he comes to stand closer to Lance. “Hey, do you wanna be friends? I live in Heahea City, but we’ll both being to the trainer’s school in between this year, I bet.”

  “Yeah, I am and let’s do it!” Lance agrees cheerfully, throwing an arm over Hunk’s shoulder. He lets out a slow exhale of relief when Hunk glances away from him to get his eevee and junior trainer passport back, because this worked out even better than Lance could’ve imagined. Normally making friends is way more work than that. Lance grins at Lance, walking out with him toward the door and wondering how long they can play with their new eevees together. Hunk returns his grin from one of his own and Lance speaks before he can stop himself. “From now on, we’re buds.” 

  Luckily his words seem to be some kind of good luck charm, because from that day on he and Hunk see each other every weekend for the remainder of summer and then go to the same school for Junior Trainers aged 13-18. Paniola Town isn’t big enough to have one of its own yet, so Lance takes the bus everyday into town. He and Hunk sit next to each other and Lance likes school, likes learning about different move types and skills and how to coordinate, but school’s also … hard. Lance’s attention span has never been the best and it’s only getting worse as he gets older, especially now that recess is a thing of the past. It’s kind of embarrassing, because Hunk’s like an actual genius, but Lance still does pretty well in school. He never gets below a B on his tests. He just has a hard time with the class part. After one particularly stressful day of school, Lance comes home and is smacked in the face by a swanblu.

  It doesn’t make his day better, not until he sees the small blue ribbon around their neck that indicates they’re a companion Pokémon. People can only have six Pokémon with them for battle or shows or whatever, but they can have a seventh one for companionship and self-care as long as they don’t use it for other purposes except in case of emergency. Lance holds them between his hands, gently running a hand over their feathers and smiling when swanblu squeaks happily.

  Lance’s mom gives him a warm smile as she glances over as she walks over, looking proud of herself. So swanblu here _is_ for him.

  “Why are you giving me a companion Pokémon? I’m gonna be a trainer before I’m a Coordinator, mom,” Lance murmurs in a small voice, cocking his head a little even as he pulls swanblu closer to his chest. He’d like to keep them either way, and it’s not unheard of for a trainer to have a companion Pokémon, just not as likely as other professions.

  “I know that, sweetheart, but this swanblu is to help you and help you keep focused, like my Granbull does for me,” His mom explains in a warm voice, her granbull Marta running over to her side and grabbing her hand. Lance has known Marta since he was just a baby, and he wonders if he and this swanblu will be together that long too. Lance hopes so, he could use some help with the focus thing and sadly focus bands don’t work on humans yet. “She’s a sweetheart.”

  “Gran!” Marta cries as she moves toward both of them, as though trying to say she likes swanblu too. Or trying to sneak a poketreat from his mom’s pocket, one of the two. 

  “Swan, blu, blu,” the small bird chirps as she floats onto Lance’s shoulder, gently nipping his eat and bringing his gaze and attention back to her. Lance smirks a little, glancing down at the small bird Pokémon in surprise. She’s starting her new job already? Lance has to admit he’s impressed. And having another friend to help him keep focused and positive at school and then during his island challenge and for the rest of his life only sounds like a good thing.   

  “Hey, do you like Blue? Want to be Blue, girl?” Lance asks as he brushes a hand over her feathers. Blue chirps again, nestling softly into his jacket. Lance smiles softly and then lunges toward his mom, hugging her in silent thanks for always knowing what he needs before he does. He knows he’s lucky to have her. 

* * *

 

  At the same time Lance started school and got his new companion swanblu, Hunk makes a new friend of his own. He’s riding on Pyrite’s neck toward Lance’s house, when Pyrite suddenly comes to a dead stop, throwing his head back and almost throwing Hunk off. Hunk slides off, rubbing Pyrite’s neck to calm him at the same time he scans the ground, trying to see what spooked him. It could be something dangerous, but it could also be a gust of wind. It can go either way with Pyrite. 

  Pyrite looks down and Hunk follows his gaze, finding himself eye to eye – well eye to face with a kartana, their small white and orange and yellow body flicking back and forth in front of them. Hunk brushes a thumb over the kartana, frowning when they let out a small cry of pain. Okay, yeah, they definitely bumped into the kartana during their walk. Hunk pulls out his pokedex-phone and quickly texts Lance, letting him know that he’s gotta go to the pokecenter and that he’ll come over on Saturday instead.

  Hunk runs the kartana to the pokecenter, nervously waiting to hear if the kartana will be okay and how badly they crushed them or if they did at all or – but then Nurse Joy brings her back out with a bright smile. Hunk takes back the tiny kartana, gently patting them with the pad of his finger. Kartana punches his finger softly and then makes what Hunk thinks is happy noise as they roll around in his hand. Hunk pulls out a pokeball and holds the ball up to kartana. “Do you want to be my Pokémon too?”

  Kartana chirps and Hunk throws the ball at his palm, watching as kartana is sucked in, the ball falling into his other hand with a soft thud. Hunk grins, happy to have caught his fourth Pokémon, and three without a fight at all. His professor career’s looking up. Two days after that it’s Saturday and Hunk slides into Lance’s bedroom, grinning as he holds his pokeball up to his friend.

  “Lance, I want to introduce you to my new Kartana, Citrine,” Hunk calls as he rolls the ball out onto the floor, watching as Citrine pops out and holds out their arm like a sword. In some ways they're his fiercest Pokémon, though they don't seem to want to fight. It’s more that their entire body is so sharp that they just accidentally cut things if they aren’t both careful. But it’s okay, because Hunk is working on making them a metal sweater to wear so they don't hurt the rest of the team and so they can’t cut through Pyrite’s stony body.

  “Wow, you’re really sticking to that mineral naming thing, huh?” Lance asks with a raised eyebrow, letting out a small laugh when Hunk huffs at him. Hunk crosses his arm, turning his nose up a bit, because he happens to think his naming system is very clever. Lanced bumps his shoulder with his own, and Hunk can’t help shooting him a quick smile. “Nah, it’s cool buddy, themes are fun. And Citrine is a beauty – wait are they an ultra-beast?”

  Hunk grins over at Lance, nodding proudly as he holds up Citrine. Ultra-beasts aren’t _that_ rare anymore, but they’re pretty hard to catch most of the time. Hunk’s a little proud one just chose him. Lance grins and gives them a quick pat, and then Citrine carefully prods his finger. Hunk gives them a quick nod, pulling out their pokeball and calling them back. There, safe and sound. 

  Then he gives Lance a knowing look, pulling out another ball and tossing it at Lance’s bed. Jasper lands on the bed with a gentle thud, her fluffy brown and white tail brushing against Winnie’s as they curl up together. “Good, because there are a few more of those where that came from, isn’t that right Jasper?”

  “Eevee!” Jasper cries as he pops up, curling up more with Winnie as he stares over at them happily. Hunk waves at the two of them, their twin Pokémon. But Lance suddenly looks serious, eyebrows sloping down a little as he runs a hand over Blue on his shoulder and lets Lola curl further into his chest.  

  “Hey, Hunk, what’re you thinking about evolving you’re Eevee into, if you are?” Lance mutters in a soft voice, brushing a hand down Lola’s back, though he’s gazing at Winnie with a tight smile. “Winnie wants to be a vaporeon.”

  “I’ve been thinking about a jolteon,” Hunk answers with a small shrug, bumping Lance’s shoulder with his own, trying to count the freckles on his face. Lance has so many, and all of them are equally cute. He knows why Lance is worried, that they won’t have the thing that connected them, but Lance should know by now he’s stuck with Hunk for forever. Except suddenly Lance’s face lights up, mouth hanging open as he grabs Hunk’s arm. That was a quick mood switch. “What?" 

  “Hunk, if we meet someone with a flareon, we’ll have the Legendary three!” Lance shouts in his face, throwing his free arm out as his grip on Hunk’s arm grows even tighter. Hunk gives him a small smile back, shaking his head a little as he pats Lance’s arm with his hand and leans in closer to him, glad the brief worry that came over his friend is gone.

  “Well, the rumored legendary three,” Hunk points out with a small smirk, wriggling his eyebrows because he can’t resist a little teasing. Hunk loves being right. Lance rolls his eyes, pouting a little as he leans in, blue eyes big and so full of energy that Hunk can’t help smiling. Hunk gives him a quick smile, nodding as he pulls Lance to his side. “Right, right, well, maybe we will. Just got to keep our eyes open.” 

  Lance hugs him and they spend the rest of the day playing video games while their Pokémon cheer them on, and also slide down Pyrite’s neck a few times. Hunk’s nervous too, but then he’s nervous about everything lately. He was as a kid too, but now that he’s a teenager it’s only gotten worse. Hunk’s moms have brought it up to him a few times, but Hunk doesn’t have an answer for them about where it’s from except his anxiety. His teachers agree with him at least.

  “Hey, moms, what’s up?” Hunk calls as he walks in from Lance’s house, the house strangely quiet. His brother is at college, but his moms both usually greet him at the door. Hunk takes a few steps forward, when a small dog darts out from behind the wall, stopping a few feet in front of him. Hunk stares, eyebrows shooting up to his forehead as he sees the rock and fur around the dog’s neck and bright blue eyes. He almost doesn’t notice his moms come in at all. “Is that a rockruff?”

  “Yes, she’s for you actually,” His mom tells him with a warm smile as she watches the two of them, Hunk immediately leaning over to start cuddling her. Hunk’s always loved rockruffs, had a bunch of stuffed animals of them as a kid (and still has a few on a shelf). And this rockruff seems especially warm, cuddling up to him and letting out soft barks. “We know you’ve been … worried lately and we thought it might help to have a Pokémon with you, like how your mama always has her glameow Bettina with her.”

  Hunk smiles as he nods, glancing over at his mama in surprise. He didn’t realize she was anxious too. His mama gives him a small, understanding smile, her curls bouncing against her face as she runs her hand down Bettina’s back. Hunk feels understood all of the sudden. He leans down and starts rubbing Rockruff’s back again, brushing his hands against the small yellow ribbon-collar around her neck. “Hey girl, do you want to travel with me? Hang out by my side?” 

  “Ruff, Ruff!” Rockruff – soon to be Amethyst – cries as she pounces onto Hunk’s lap, gently licking his face. Hunk laughs, warm and soft, because he thinks he and Amethyst are going to be a good team. He takes her to his room and gives her a quick tour, smiling softly as she nuzzles up to his side when he gets a little anxious about the clouds in the sky. Pyrite doesn’t like rain. What if he gets soaked or catches a cold or –

  Amethyst bumps his legs again, nudging his waist where he keeps his poke gear. Right he can keep Pyrite inside tonight. Everything will be okay.

  Hunk gets braver after that, now that he has a push to be brave. And because Hunk is a scientist and he finds an egg and well, he can’t just not keep it, right? It’s an abandoned egg that needs love and care and to be studied. Hunk carries the egg all the way back from the high grass to his house, hiding it in a pile of blankets in his closet. He’s worried his moms might make him take it to the nursey, because while they’re great and supportive, teenagers aren’t really trusted with eggs and Hunk did break his egg baby in health class last year.

  So, he calls the one person in class he knows who didn’t and makes them cover over right away.  

  “I can’t believe you’re hiding an egg in your room! What else do you got up here?” Lance asks as he saunters into the room, long legs brushing against Hunk’s closet door. Hunk is still taller than him, but he swears Lance just gets taller and sharper every day. or maybe Hunk just pays too much attention. He’s always been a detail-focused person. 

  “I made a rotom dex, but here, help me hold the egg, we need to make sure they don’t hatch and fall out of their cubby,” Hunk tells him with a shrug, ignoring the way Lance’s mouth falls open at his line about the rotom dex. They’re not that hard to make and it’s not like Hunk has a rotom to live in it yet anyway. Hunk holds up the egg shaking in his hands, scrunching his face up as it shakes more and more. “They could get hurt!”

  Lance grabs the other side, holding onto it just as tightly as Hunk is, watching as the egg shakes more. Small cracks start to form at the top, and Hunk sucks in a deep breath because it’s cracking in his hands even though he didn’t drop it. This is a disaster! Amethyst nips gently at his ankle at the same time Lance frowns at him, raising one eyebrow as a small bit of red shows through the crack. Oh right, the egg’s hatching, not breaking. That makes more sense.

  “Togepi!” Togepi cries as their head suddenly bursts out through the shell, sticking their face out and smiling happily at Hunk. Hunk slowly kneels down, nodding toward Chalcedony whose floating above the bed curiously and at Pyrite waving back and forth from the window. Lance grins over at him, expression soft as he comes over to gently poke togepi’s back and then start pulling off remnants of the shell.

  Hunk stares at togepi, heart filling with love all over again. Not only is togepi his partner, but they’re kind of his baby. Well, not really, but as close as Hunk’s ever come to having one at 14. He cuddles togepi to his chest, already wondering how he’s going to tell his moms.

  In the end, he just walks downstairs and holds him up, because who can resist their first grandchild?  

 

* * *

But a year and a half before any of that, another boy just missed these two when he went to get his own eevee and ended up getting a whole lot more.

   Keith is watching the news in Aether house, sitting alone in the room for teenagers. He’s the only one there, after all. All the other kids who started out with him have been adopted. Keith meanwhile has been three rejected by three families and sent back by one. Apparently, he’s a problem child. Doesn’t listen well enough, is too quiet, too emotional but also not open enough with his feelings, and several other bad things his counselor tells him. And Acerola is busy with the younger kids and finding them families – no one except Keith is ever here for more than a month or two – so sometimes he won’t even see here for days. 

  He’s always alone. But Keith doesn’t care anymore. He’s an adult and he doesn’t need anyone but himself and his Pokémon.  

  Which is why Keith doesn’t tell Acerola that he’s not coming back when he brings her the permission slip to get an eevee on Akala Island. He feels bad, because Acerola has always been nice to him, always been understanding of his need to know everything when she’s not busy with trials and kids and Pokémon, of the times he’s tried to find signs of his parents, but – she’s an orphan too. She’ll understand that Keith needs to find where he belongs. He wanted to go to Haina desert by himself before, but he was too young and so was Spike.

  But now Spike knows two moves and Karen can do tackle and splash, which is pretty advanced for a magikarp, and Robert’s great at punching. So is Keith. They can protect themselves.

  It’s time to move on from Aether House and give the kids who need someone to take care of them more space. Keith just … he’d like another friend out there with him, someone to take care of and protect. Eevee feels perfect for that and Keith’s never left Ula’ula Island before. Keith walks to the docks, using the pocket money he’s got from helping pick berries after school to buy a two-way ticket and gets on first thing in the morning.

  There’s a three-hour ride and Keith becomes more and more anxious, because he’s anxious about not getting an eevee. There were only 10 and Keith’s not going to get there until 2 in the afternoon. He rushes off the boat and down the street in Heahea city, practically diving through the front of the pokecenter doors. He can feel the people in the lobby staring at him, and Keith wraps his red hoodie a little closer to his chest as he comes up to the front desk. Keith takes a deep breath, pressing one hand against the counter as he stares up at Nurse Joy. He’s not anywhere near as tall as her. been getting shorter all the time lately. 

  “Hey, I’m Keith Song and I heard they were giving out Eevees, are there any left?” Keith says, voice coming out a bit harsh, anxiety filling him that he might have missed out. Nurse Joy looks a little surprised and Keith bites his lip and looks down, shaking his head because he’s doing it again. Keith glances back up at her, gaze anxious and desperate as he digs his fingers into the wood of the desk. He wishes he could let one of his Pokémon out to hug right now. “Please?”

  “They’re right over here,” Nurse Joy tells him with a small smile, expression growing softer as Keith’s voice cracks a little. Keith’s embarrassed, because he’s here because he’s an adult now, not some he’s still some stupid kid who needs adults to take pity on him. But Nurse Joy seems nice. Keith gives her a grateful smile as he follows her to a back room. Keith glances around the room, seeing the five eevees left. One of them runs over to him, a little smaller than the rest with ears that are a little too big for their head. Keith leans over and they immediately nuzzle into his legs. “Oh, this one seems to have taken quite a liking to you. He’s the smallest one – “

  “I’ll take him, if I umm. If I can,” Keith mumbles as he pulls the eevee closer to him, burying his hands in his soft fur as the eevee nuzzles him some more. Keith’s not used to well, anyone or anything being this affectionate with him this quickly. Not since his parents and when he first met Robert. He’s close to his Pokémon, of course he is, but even they took time to warm up to him. He thinks he’ll call him Seong-Jin.

  “Oh, of course, you seem like a fine young trainer,” She assures him with a small smile, patting his shoulder like she thinks he’s 10 rather than 13. He really hopes he has a growth spurt soon. Keith pulls a pokeball out of his backpack, gently tossing at it the eevee and watching as he’s pulled inside. Keith starts to follow Nurse Joy down the hallway, but he stops when he hears a soft, defeated cry. Keith follows it, finding a torracat lying on a table. They don’t seem hurt, but their tail’s limp and expression despondent. “Oh yes, this poor torracat, Deathclaw. She got an Everstone used on her in a fight and her owner abandoned her.” 

  “Can I have her too?” Keith asks as he looks up at Nurse Joy, balling his hands into fists as he takes another step toward her, pressing his mouth into a thin line. How dare that person? A trainer never abandons their team, no matter what happens with them. A real trainer learns how to roll with it and become stronger and – people just shouldn’t abandon people or Pokémon. Keith looks up at Nurse Joy, tears building in the back of his eyes even as he tries to push them down. “I don’t care if she can’t evolve, we’ll be twice as strong together as she and old partner were!”

  “Well, it’s unorthodox, young man, but you know what, yes you can,” Nurse Joy tells him after a long moment, glancing down at his profile and permission slip. Keith swallows softly, because he knows part of her yes is because of Acerola’s name. Keith hates lying, but … what if no one else wants Deathclaw? What if she ends up alone like him? He leaves the pokecenter with two pokeballs and takes the afternoon ship back to Ula’ula Island.

  Keith gets off the boat and gets on the bus to Tapu Village, but gets off one stop too early. It’s time to go to the desert. His dad and mom told him all about the month they spent hiking there, the adventures they had, how much they felt like they grew up and changed. It’s time for Keith to do the same thing, even if he is a decade younger than they were. Kids grow up faster now anyway.

  Keith puts all of his Pokémon back into pokeballs, carefully stashing them in his backpack by his treats and fresh waters. Then Keith goes through the entrance, covering his hand with his face as he walks through the sand, small pieces hitting him across the face. It hurts more than Keith expected. Keith keeps trying to push forward, bent halfway at the waist as he keeps walking. He already wants water, but no. He can do this. Keith finds a small rock cavern and checks it out, not seeing any wild Pokémon in it. Keith climbs inside, lying out a towel on the ground and curling a hoodie under his head. This can be his home base. 

  Except Keith wakes up two hours later to find someone picking him up, strong arms holding him up with ease. Keith blinks owlishly, thinking he’s back with his dad for a second. Then his vision clears and he sees a much younger, different face, one with worried grey eyes and a small scar across his face. Keith doesn’t know this person and terror fills him, gently punching the man against the chest and trying to kick, but he’s at a bad angle for that. “Take me back!”

  “You’re like 13, you can’t live alone, and especially not in Haina desert,” The older boy, maybe 19 or 20, tells him as he keeps carrying Keith until they’re back around the campers. Keith crosses his arms as the other boy puts him down but doesn’t let go of his arm. He doesn’t seem like he’s going to kidnap him and it’s not like Keith would be worth anything, but he can’t be too careful. “I’m Shiro.”

  “I’m almost 14! And why not? I was doing just fine!” Keith snaps even though his birthday isn’t for five and a half months and he’s well … he’s pretty thirsty and he feels dirty now that he’s standing here covered in sand not in the middle of a sandstorm. Keith looks down and bites his lip, trying to hide the flush of shame rising in his cheeks. “I’m Keith and I’m _fine_.”

  “Doesn’t seem like it,” Shiro says, but his tone is warm rather than the annoyance or lecturing tone that Keith’s learned to expect from the adults around him. Keith crosses his arms a little tighter, kicking the ground softly as he shakes his head. It doesn’t matter, because rather he’s fine or not, there’s no one else there to care. Shiro slides a hand on his shoulder, squeezing his shoulder until Keith looks back up at him. “Look, my mom and I have extra space and you’re clearly a good kid. Come stay with us, at least for a little bit. A trial run, if you will. I’ll help you train your Pokémon.”

  “I don’t need help! And I’m not a good –” Keith cries but then cuts himself off, expression growing confused as he shakes his head, tears building in his gaze. Why did he say that? He thought he was upset because he wanted to be an adult, so why does he care if he’s good? Is that what he’s upset about? Keith just … he wants to belong somewhere and to someone besides his Pokémon. Keith wants someone to think he’s worth it, and Shiro does even though he has no reason to.  “But … okay, maybe for a little bit.”

  Keith finds himself back at Aether House a few hours after that, because apparently, he can’t just go to a foster family right away. First Acerola grounds him for a week (now that Keith’s less anxious and less sure he should be alone, he kind of gets why), and then he has to have five half day visits with Shiro and his mom to see if they’re a good fit. Usually this is where it goes wrong for Keith. But the meetings are different this time. Shiro is warm and friendly, showing Keith different soccer moves and showing him his Pokémon when Keith worries about Deathclaw being stuck as a torracat and feeling bad about herself.

  Almost none of Shiro’s are in their final evolution but he still’s done almost all of the Island Challenge with them. Deathclaw perks up a little, licking her paw and preening.

  Hinata, meanwhile, is warm and friendly, the houndoom at her side giving Keith a quick once over and then deciding to lick him. She brings him snacks and a shirt one time, but she doesn’t push too hard. Keith can’t tell how it’s going to play out this time, so he keeps warning his Pokémon that they might end up staying here so they don’t get too hopeful no matter how much they like Hinata and Shiro. 

  Then one day in August about a month after this all started, Keith finds himself with two packed bags in the back of Hinata’s car, Seong-Jin and Spike curled up in his lap, Deathclaw pressed up one side of him and Robert on the other, with Karen safely in her ball. Shiro glances back at him from the front seat with a warm smile, and Keith lets himself hope he might belong with someone after all. 

* * *

   A year or so after that, the other two boys are looking to the future too.

  Lance lies on Hunk’s floor, holding up his math homework with a tight frown, wondering if he can ask Hunk for help. He took this class like, freshman year. Lance kind of wonders why Hunk didn’t just graduate early years ago, but then he guesses there’s no point in leaving Alola until after you take your island challenge. And then – actually, Lance thinks as he scrunches his eyebrows together, he doesn’t know what Hunk wants to do next. “Hunk, what do you wanna do when you grow up and you’re done with your trial? Are you gonna take on the elite four?” 

  “Nah, my mom and mama want me to because they did, I think, but I want to go to University and become a professor and they’re happy with that too,” Hunk tells him with a wide grin as he sits up, hair brushing against his neck as he slides a hand down Lance’s comforter. “I’m going to create a whole new type of TM’s someday. Well try to, that’ll be hard.”

  “Hunk, you’re the smartest person I know, you can do it for sure,” Lance promises him as he leans over so he can look Hunk in the eye. Hunk’s eyes are warm, the brilliant golden brown and curved lips heavy with worry. Lance gives him a warm smile, sliding one hand onto Hunk’s shoulder – and when did Hunk get muscles – and tries to put all of his faith in Hunk into his voice. “I do wanna take on the elite four, but I don’t want to be a trainer forever, I want to become a coordinator.”

  “You’re Pokémon are great performers, you trained them really well,” Hunk says warmly, gaze growing soft as he glances over at Winnie and Betsy, out of her ball and evolved from a goomy into a sliggo. She’s on her own special blanket so she doesn’t melt his floor. Lance glances over at them with a soft smile, and then down to Genevieve by his side, too big for his lap now that she’s a lairon and not an Aron. All of his ladies are starting to grow up. He feels himself getting teary-eyed and reaches up a hand to brush it through Blue’s feathers gently.

  “My ladies are very talented,” Lance agrees as he swallows his tears, ignoring the affectionate, teasing grin Hunk shoots him and the way his eyebrows slope down. Lance turns to Hunk with a small smile, lying a hand over Hunk’s own as his gaze grows more determined, because while he doesn’t know what the far future holds, he suddenly knows what he from the near future. “But let’s make a deal. We’ll do our trials together, and then make our new dreams come true.” 

  “Yeah, you and me,” Hunk agrees with a firm nod, gaze growing gentle as he glances at Lance and then back to where Winnie and Jasper are curled together on the bed. They look right together, but somehow Lance can’t help but feel like something’s missing.  

 

* * *

In another part of Alola, Keith’s 15 and has been living with Hinata and Shiro for a year and he’s starting to feel at home. He’s finally had a bit of a growth spurt, though he’s still only 5’4” and sometimes Shiro uses him as an armrest, which is annoying but makes him feel more like family and less like an interloper.

  Keith still misses his parents, still feels anxious because the four years of being accepted and then rejected, where he went days without talking to anyone except Acerola when she wasn’t at work, but he thinks maybe this could be a home. So when he comes downstairs and finds Hinata and Shiro huddled together, expressions anxious as they glance over at him, he feels his stomach drop. They’re going to send them back.

  Keith takes a deep breath as he walks towards them, crossing his arms and glaring a little as he tries to hide his anxiety. If they’re sending him back, they’re sending him back. Shiro’s cosmog Yuri cries as he near them, floating excitedly back and forth between them. Keith bites his lip and looks down, trying to keep himself calm. He’s going to miss Shiro’s team too, even if Shiro’s gone a lot helping out with the Elite Four. He’ll be home more soon, because Nanu said he could be the new Trial Captain when he retires and Acerola takes over as the Kahuna. Keith wanted to spend more time with him. 

  “Hinata? Shiro? Why are you guys both huddled in the corner,” Keith asks softly as he reaches their side, grip on his arms growing tighter as he watches them share a look between them that Keith can’t quite read. He has no idea if he’s about to be thrown or hugged or what, and that might be what’s the most terrifying.

  “Keith, do you remember what Dr. Ulaz said to you in your session last week?” Hinata calls as she shuffles forward a little bit, giving him a weak smile and reaching out a hand only to pull it back at the last minute. Keith winces, biting his lip as he looks away from them, because he hasn’t been thrilled about having to go to therapy regularly the past few months, but Hinata and Shiro thought it would be helpful for him after they found out he never went regularly after his parents … left. It has been, but it’s also been scary. 

  “That I have ‘anxiety’ and ‘avoidance issues’, or something,” Keith mumbles, glancing down at the floor as he digs his toes deeper into the carpet, glancing at Deathclaw out of the corner of his eye. He wonders if he can get her to come over here. He wants someone to hold onto, but he also wants to be alone. Keith feels that way a lot, which he guesses is why Hinata and Shiro are both here now. It’s not easy dealing with someone who goes from clingy to avoiding everyone at the drop of the hat. Keith should know, he has to be himself all the time. “Why?”

  “Dr. Ulaz recommended that we get you an emotional support Pokémon to help you feel more comfortable around others and to help with your anxiety. That way you can learn to control your emotions better,” Shiro explains softly as he gives Keith a warm smile, taking a step to the side as he reveals a houndour behind him. Keith stills, hands falling to the side as too many emotions whirl in him. He’s not being sent back. They got him a Pokémon – when they’re already wasting so much money on him as it is – to help him. “After all, how else are you going to become a trial captain after me? This is her.”

  The part of Keith that is, or at least _wants_ to be fiercely independent insists that he doesn’t need a houndour because he’s not anxious and he’s not – well okay, he’s not good with people, but he’s fine how it is now. He has Shiro and Hinata, even if Shiro’s gone a lot and Hinata has work and even Keith isn’t sure he wants to be a captain of anything.

  But the part of Keith that wants more, that is afraid of being rejected and is being faced with the soft, devoted eyes and gentle licks of said houndour wins easily this time. Keith presses his face against her mixture of fur and bone, solid and warm beneath his hands. His fingers brush against the red bandana around her neck that indicates she’s a companion and not a Pokémon for battles or shows.

  “I like her,” Keith admits as he pulls back and brushes hand over her face. He thinks he’ll call her Mona, something about her soft, sad gaze. Keith sits up on his heels, glancing up Shiro, whose smiling at him warmly and Hinata, hair tied back in a bun, who gives him a small grin, gaze soft and relieved. He guesses he’s not the only one who thought this might go badly. “Thank you, Hinata and Shiro.”

  Keith rolls to his feet and holds out a hand for Shiro to shake, and Shiro takes it and just holds him for a second before pulling him into a hug. Keith stiffens for a moment, eyes widening in surprise before he leans in to the hug, shifting a little so Hinata can wrap her arms them too for a second. Altogether, the hug probably doesn’t even last 30 seconds, but it’s enough for Keith to think that maybe this could be home for him too someday, as long as he grows up to be like Shiro. 

* * *

 Three years after promising to help each other make their dreams come true, Lance and Hunk are finally starting their island challenge. Hunk watches as Hunk strides down the path, limbs long and lean, moving with a grace that belies how clumsy he can be sometimes. Though not always, Hunk thinks with a soft smile, catching a flash of that warm smile and bright blue eyes, the same shade as his Blue on his shoulder.  Lance is beautiful, has only gotten more beautiful as he’s gotten older. Hunk guesses that’s kind of a weird thing to think about your best friend, but he doesn’t really care. He and Lance have always had less boundaries in their friendship than most people.

  That’s how Hunk ended up getting convinced to go on the Island Challenge in the first place, even when Hunk wants to become a professor. Though Lance guesses that Kukui and Burnett both did their island challenges too, so maybe it’s something you just gotta do? Either way, Hunk’s glad he’s here with Lance and not doing it alone.

   Especially now that Jasper and Winnie have gone missing. They’ve always played together, even when they were just little eevees. But they usually stay close to Lance and Hunk, but they’ve been disappearing off on their own ever since Lance and Hunk got to Memele island a few weeks ago. Hunk frowns, crossing his arms tightly as he stares off into the distance, Amethyst sitting next to him with an equally serious look on her face. Lance glances back at him, gaze flicking to his arms with a strange, almost glazed expression. Hunk guesses he must be really worried about where Winnie is. Blue cries out for the Pokémon, though Hunk doesn’t know effective it is since she can only say her own name and not theirs.

  But luckily for them, Winnie suddenly pops out from one of the bushes, her sleek blue tail flicking back and forth in the air as she runs over to Lance. Hunk swallows, gaze flicking to the bush and letting out a slow sigh as Jasper suddenly bolts out, bright yellow spikes of fur messy from the bush. Hunk leans down and wraps him in a quick hug, because yeah, he’s gotta admit he was a little worried. 

  “Hey, Winnie, where do you keep going off too?” Lance asks as he kneels down next to his vaporeon, Blue flying off his shoulder to land on Winnie’s back and bump her with her nose. Lance frowns a little as she nuzzles him, and then looks back into thin air. Except no, she’s looking at the bush, where Hunk sees a flash of red fur. Huh. Weird. “I’m glad you’re with Jasper, but you two are kind of scaring me and Hunk.”

  “Lance, they’re not alone, there’s a flareon with them,” Hunk points out as he nudges Lance with his hand, pointing to the bush as he scrunches his eyebrows together. There aren’t many wild flareons, since they evolve with a stone, so how did this little fella even find one?

  “Wait, a flareon?” Lance says quietly, and then just to prove Hunk right (not that he isn’t usually), the flareon comes out from behind the bushes, a few branches stuck in the white part of their fur. The flareon takes a few hesitant steps forward, and Winne lets out a small cry and turns her head toward them. Their Pokémon made a poke friend! Lance stands up, throwing his arms out and smiling widely as he stares over at the flareon. “Hunk, this is the dream, this is our moment.” 

  “Your moment?” A voice calls out, clear and ringing and pulling Hunk’s attention away from the flareon in front of them. There’s a boy around their age standing there, messy black hair brushing against his neck. He has bright violet eyes, large and piercing as they glare over at them, followed by high cheekbones and adorably, a slightly wide nose and cupid bow lips. He’d be as beautiful as Lance if he wasn’t so angry. Though, Hunk’s pretty sure this kid thinks they’re stealing his flareon, so he gets why he’s mad. “Sorry, but he’s mine. I’m Keith.”

  “Then you gotta travel with us on the Island Challenge!” Lance cries as he takes a step toward Keith, giving him one of his megawatt smiles. Hunk scrunches his eyebrows together as he glances at Lance out of the corner of his eye, because cute or not, they have no idea who this guy is. This Keith seems equally shocked by the idea, eyes widening and mouth falling open as he stares at Lance. He’s even cuter now that he’s not glaring. Out from the bushes, a houndour pops out, barking slightly as they come to stand next to Keith, mimicking their trainer's confused expression. Hunk has to bite his lip at how cute that is, because he doesn't know if Keith would like being cute. 

  “What? I have no idea who you guys are,” Keith points out after a beat, crosses his arms a little tighter against his chest as he glances back and forth between the two of them. He’s wearing a cropped red jacket, bright against the black of his T-shirt. Hunk thinks it would look nice by his yellow vest and Lance’s blue tank top and navy jacket, and then pushes the thought away. They can’t choose travel companions by their shirts, and besides, he clearly doesn’t want to go with them. “So … no thanks?” 

  “I think should,” Another mystery voice calls out and Hunk really wonders where all these people are hiding, and how worried he should be about it. A tall man, a few years older than them – maybe mid-twenties – comes out from the trees. He’s classically handsome, with sparkling gray eyes and a strong jaw and broad shoulders, hair a perfect undercut. One single lock of hair is white and Hunk’s convinced he had to have dyed it. Hair doesn’t grey that coolly. The man takes another few steps forward, coming to stand next to Keith. Up close, Hunk can see that he has a _cosmog_ on his shoulder, and his mouth drops a little because who just walks around with an Ultra Beast like that? Though … they’re kind of common now.

  “Wait!” Keith cries as he turns to the other man, uncrossing his arms as he takes a step toward him. He looks up at him, gaze suddenly much softer as he digs one of his white and black boots into the dirt on the trail and bites his lip. Hunk blinks owlishly, because who is Shiro that he’s making Keith - who liked he was ready to take two trainers on by himself two seconds ago - look that anxious? “Shiro?”

  “Shiro? The trial captain?” Lance asks after a beat with wide eyes, and suddenly Hunk gets why Keith’s so anxious. Hunk takes a step forward, clearing his throat as he raises one hand up in the air like he’s still in school. Hunk can feel Lance’s eyes boring into his back and can see Keith glancing at him out of the corner of his eye, but Hunk ignores both of them.

  “I’m not ready to battle you, no offense,” Hunk says with a frown, scrunching his eyebrows together as he stares over at Shiro. Because wait, Shiro isn’t even from here. He’s the trial captain for the Tapu Village, which has finally been rebuilt after Tapu Bulu destroyed it a few decades ago. He shouldn’t be here at all. He expects Shiro to pull at a poke ball and he’s getting ready to tell Amethyst to run, when Shiro does something Hunk doesn’t see coming.

  He starts laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance's Team: Lola the Chikorita, Betsy the Sliggo, Genevieve the Lairon, Winnie the Vaporeon, and Companion animal Blue the Swanblu
> 
> Hunk's Team: Pyrite the Onix, Chalcedony the Carbink, Almandine the Mudbray, Citrine the Kartana, Opal the Togepi, and Companion Animal Amethyst the Rockruff
> 
> Keith's Team: Robert the Lucario, Karen the Magikarp (or is she), Spike the Cubone, Seong-Jin the Flareon, Deathclaw the Torracat, and Companion Animal Mona the Houndour
> 
> Shiro's Team: Meghnad the Cloyster, Conrad the Bronzor, Neil the Rotom, Sally the Whirlipede, Valentina the Cottonee, Copernicus the Minior, and Companion Animal Yuri the Cosmog


	3. Memele Island

  Keith stares over at Lance with wide eyes, eyebrows shooting up as he stares over at Shiro. he can’t believe he’s just standing there laughing, one hand coming up to ruffle Keith’s hair like this is any other day. Except it’s not, because Keith’s pretty sure he went through some Ultra space and ended up somewhere else, because Shiro isn’t being himself. If he was, he’d already know that Keith doesn’t talk to strangers at all. He definitely doesn’t travel with them. Keith’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Shiro to admit it’s a joke, but instead he just pulls his hand away and uses his prosthetic one to push Keith toward these strangers.

  The air is tenser now, Lance shooting him an intrigued look while his swanblu hops back and forth across his shoulders, gaze locked on Keith. Lance is cute, with short brown hair that’s curled slightly, a smattering of freckles across his cheeks and bright blue eyes that Keith imagines are like lightening under the right circumstances. Like when he doesn’t demand strangers join his club or whatever. 

  The other boy, Hunk is smiling awkwardly, gaze shooting from person to person. He’s handsome too, all smooth skin and warm brown eyes that make Keith feel a little safer, thick wavy hair falling in his eyes. Keith guesses it’s nice that they’re at least cute? But he still doesn’t get why Shiro wants him to go off with a bunch of strangers. Keith watches as Hunk’s rockruff gently nips his leg. It’s a familiar move, but Keith isn’t sure why until Mona does the same to him. Keith blinks, glancing down at her and biting his lip, because what’s that about? He’s not feeling anxious at all right now. Is he? No. Keith would know if he was. He would.

   “Shiro, what are you talking about?” Keith says as he turns on his heel, crossing his arms against his chest tightly. Shiro gives him a bright smile, like he didn’t just suggest Keith go off with a bunch of strangers and without him. Keith knows that Shiro can’t go with him on his island challenge, he accepted that a long time ago. Now he just needs Shiro to accept that he doesn’t need a bunch of babysitters who’re basically the same age as him. “I’m here to do my island challenge, not for summer camp.” 

  “Hey, we’re here to do our island challenge too, jerk!” Lance calls from him behind him, and Keith glances back over his shoulder to find the other boy shooting him a look that manages to be wounded and angry at the same time, lips pressed into a thin line. Keith shrugs a little, reaching down one hand to pat Mona and Seong-Jin absently, because if Lance is here to do his challenge he should get it. They need to focus. 

  “And this guy thinks I’m a jerk, so I’m guessing the invitation’s off,” Keith throws out to Shiro with a small smirk, letting the feeling of victory wash over him for a minute. He still doesn’t know what Shiro was planning, but at least Keith’s off the hook for it. 

  “No, you still have a flareon,” Lance says after a moment, expression softening a little as he meets Keith’s gaze. His eyebrows slope down a bit, tight frown turning into a small smile as something sheepish enters his gaze. Keith gives him a small smile back, because he’s not used to people smiling at him period. His whole scowling thing puts people off. Suddenly Hunk smiles at him too, a little more nervously, but then warm and bright and for a second Keith forgets why he doesn’t want to travel with them both. 

  Except wait. Lance wants to travel with him because of Seong-Jin? He knew that already, but it’s just hitting Keith that it doesn’t make any sense. Seong-Jin’s strong and a good Pokémon, but Flareon aren’t so powerful that people flock to them for protection or so rare people want to study them. “What?”

  “The legendary three?” Lance says slowly, eyebrows scrunching together as he stares over at Keith, the hand on his hip pressing just a hair tighter. The swanblu on his shoulder stops hopping back and forth and nestles against Lance’s neck, apparently happy with whatever Lance is trying to accomplish by staring Keith down. Keith cocks his head to the left, scrunching his eyebrows and mirroring Lance’s posture without fully realizing it. yeah, he still doesn’t know where Lance is going with this. “You must know the theory.” 

  “Well, yeah, but that’s the only reason you asked me to go with you?” Keith asks softly, voice a little raspier than it was a second ago. Keith’s surprised by his tone, if he didn’t know better, he’d almost think he sounded disappointed or hurt. Mona agrees, nuzzling his leg as she almost wraps herself around his legs like he needs more comfort than usual. Keith sees Hunk glance down at his rockruff and then over at Mona, gazed flitting up to Keith with something softer than was there a minute ago. Keith wonders what caused that change?

    “I mean, that and the fact you’re kind of angry are the only things I know about you,” Lance throws out, eyebrows sloping down as he holds up one hand apologetically, palm forward. Keith rolls his eyes a little, but then smirks because he guesses that’s fair. All he knows about Lance is that he’s cute and kind of puts his foot in his mouth, though he seems to feel bad about once he realizes it.

  “Are you famous?” Hunk mumbles, giving Keith a discerning look, gaze drifting slowly from his head to his feet and then back up again, as though his ripped black jeans or arms will give away who he is. If Keith didn’t know better, he’d think Hunk was checking him out. But people don’t do that with him and especially not when they’re boyfriends look like Lance.

  “No, I’m not, I guess I thought –” Keith starts and then stops mid-sentence, throwing his hands out to the side in frustration. He has no idea where that sentence or any of this is going. And more to the point, he’s talking to the wrong people. Lance and Hunk don’t really want him to go with, they just want to take a few pictures of Seong-Jin with their Vaporeon and Jolteon. Once they get to know Keith, they’ll be out of there like everyone else. No, the one he should be annoyed with is Shiro. “Can I talk to Shiro for a minute?”

  “Of course,” Shiro tells him, voice kind and neutral as he glances over at Keith, as though he didn’t create this entire situation. Keith lets out a small huff, walking off several feet, Mona and Seong-Jin close to his feet. He’s not used to being mad at Shiro and he doesn’t really know how to start. With someone else he’d either just leave or probably explode and say the wrong thing before they got anywhere but Shiro changed his life, _saved_ his life. Keith’s always just wanted to make him proud. Keith’s just not sure how going off with two strangers is going to accomplish that. Except wait. Shiro does sometimes do favors for the police. Maybe. “What’s up?”

  “Why do you want me to go with them? Are they a new organization you want me to keep an eye on?” Keith says all in a single breath, glancing up at him with a mixture of determination and excitement, eyebrows sloping down. Keith’s surprised that Shiro’d want him to handle something with espionage – he’s not known for his patience and he’s not a good liar – but if it means protecting Alola or saving helpless Pokémon, Keith’s all in. a part of him always thinks he should’ve been born back when Team Skull or Team Flare or any of those teams was still at their fight. He does better when he has a direct threat to focus on, a bad guy to fight.

  “What? No, I want you to make friends besides me, Keith,” Shiro explains, raising an eyebrow as he shoots Keith a look of disbelief. Keith’s shoulders slump because oaky, yeah, Hunk and Lance don’t seem like criminals or even criminal’s pawns. But Keith can hope. Shiro’s expression grows more serious, eyebrows coming together as he slides one hand to Keith’s shoulder. Keith squirms under his touch, because Keith knows where this is going and it’s nowhere good. “You can’t be trial captain if you don’t have strong connections with other people and trainers. You need to learn how to work on a team.” 

  Keith bites his lip, understanding better this time why Mona is gently nipping and nuzzling his right leg. He has to tell Shiro the truth, Keith knows that’s the right thing to do. He gives him a tight look, eyebrows sloping down softly. “Shiro, I know you want me to be trial captain –

  “And I know you don’t think you’re right for it, but I’ve seen your potential Keith, you just need to learn to control your emotions and to work with others,” Shiro tells him firmly as the grip on his shoulder tightens like the most loving vice. Keith looks down at Mona’s bony and black-furred back, rubbing his hand over his thumb as he tries to think of all the arguments for why he shouldn’t be a trial captain. Keith’s got plenty, but Shiro’s already dismissed them all. Keith glances up to find Shiro smiling, gaze a touch softer than before. “And now seems like a good time to start.” 

  “Okay,” Keith mutters because he doesn’t want to fight with Shiro right now when he’s not going to see him again for months, maybe even longer. Keith might go to Kanto after his trial. He hasn’t told Shiro that yet. He’s afraid Shiro will see it as him running away, but Keith … he wants to forge his own path as much as he wants to make Shiro proud, and he knows there has to be a way to do both. He just needs to find it and so far, it hasn’t been in Alola. But traveling with Hunk and Lance for a day or two won’t be so bad, and Keith can go off on his own again once they get to Akala Island. Keith walks several feet back to the other two boys, arms crossed as he gazes over at them. “Look if you actually want to – I guess we could walk to Verdant Cave together?”

  “Yeah, we should, you look like you could use a stop in Hau’oli City, they have a hair stylist there,” Lance tells him with a bright smile, relief filling his gaze as he looks over at Keith, eyes flicking between him and Seong-Jin. Keith blinks owlishly, mouth forming into a small ‘o’ as h touches his bang. Lance lets out a small laugh, high and sweet, shaking his head as though his comment should be obvious. “You know, because of your mullet.” 

  “Lance, he can do what he wants with his hair,” Hunk mutters, lightly bumping his elbow into Lance’s shoulder. Lance rolls his eyes playfully but then nods until Hunk smiles triumphantly. They’re comfortable with each other, easy in a way Keith isn’t with anyone, not even Shiro. He wonders how long they’ve been dating. Then Hunk shoots him a warm grin, gesturing for him to come closer. “But yeah, let’s go together.”

  Keith looks back to say goodbye to Shiro, only to find an empty space where he and Yuri were before. Keith sighs and crosses his arms, ignoring Lance’s question about how he knows Shiro for now. He doesn’t like to open with the whole orphan thing. 

  And just like that Keith finds himself walking side by side with two strangers who are now his traveling companions, at least through his first trial. Seong-Jin and the vaporeon and jolteon, the Pokémon that ‘bonded’ them all, are back in their pokeballs. Now that they don’t have that to focus on or Shiro, Keith tries to stay a little apart from them, create space, but the sidewalk isn’t wide enough. Keith keeps bumping into Lance’s and Hunk as he glances around him, taking in the modern buildings with a bit of wide-eyed shock. 

  For all that Keith wants to see the world, he’s only left Ula’ula island once to get Seong-Jin. Mona keeps closer than usual, looking up as she presses toward him, seeming amazed but maybe a little nervous. Keith understands, amazed at the sights and beauty but overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people and the height of the buildings. Living in Tapu Village, Keith’s gotten used to lots of empty space, and even Malie City is only about half the size of Hau’oli. Keith’s wonder must show in his wide eyes and slight frown, Hunk suddenly giving him a comforting smile as he leads him toward another set of white buildings.

   “Wow, it’s big,” Keith murmurs softly as he stares at the complexes, wondering what they could possibly need them to be so tall for. Keith sees Lance glancing at the salon next door and promptly ignores him, gaze narrowing on the building in front of him instead. He catches one of the signs by the entrance. Like the flower, is it a seed shop? Keith grins at the idea, even though he can’t really garden on the road. But no, there’s a directory underneath, a whole list of store names. “Wait, is that a mall?” 

  “Yes, it is, good eye, Keith,” Lance says back, expression blank and for a second Keith can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or not. But then Lance smiles at him, patting him on the shoulder quickly before pulling away. Keith finds himself returning the smile before he can stop himself, even though Lance’s gaze is already locked on the mall in front of him. He jams one arm out, index finger pointed at the door as he wiggles his eyebrows dramatically. Keith notes that Hunk doesn’t so much as blink at his actions. “Because you know what you need for every battle?" 

  Keith follows his arm, scrunching his eyebrows together as he tries to think of an answer that comes in a store and not in his pokeball. Then Keith glances at him, kicking the ground with one foot. “Potions?”

  “I – well yeah, but also the right outfit,” Lance mumbles, shaking his head as he gives Keith a slightly exasperated expression. Keith thinks he might have just ruined something, but he has no idea what. Lance lets out a small sigh, shaking his head as he starts walking toward the door, Hunk following him. Keith watches them for a moment until Lance glances back at him, voice rising as he calls after him. “Just let me and Hunk be your guides, okay?”

  Keith runs over, glancing as Lance leans over and whispers something to his swanblu. Keith’s gaze locks on the blue ribbon around her neck, the same style as the red collar on Mona. She’s a support animal. Keith glances down at Hunk’s rockruff and suddenly her yellow ribbon is as clear as day. That’s why Hunk was staring at Mona earlier. Eevolutions isn’t the only thing they all have in common after all. Keith swallows, not sure how to feel about them knowing that he needs Mona (because he feels like they’re reasons are probably less weird than his) even as his gaze goes back to Lance’s swanblu as he waves at them from the clothing store. “He wants to be a coordinator.”

  Hunk’s voice hits Keith like a pleasant chime, pulling his gaze away from Lance to the boy giving him a knowing look. Keith cocks his head and then realizes that’s why Hunk thinks he was staring, because of the outfits.  Keith nods quickly, giving him a weak smile as he follows him to where Lance is. Maybe the next few days won’t be so bad after all.

* * *

  Lance wanders through the clothing store, picking through an array of polo shirts and discarding them just as quickly. They match his vibe, or at least his vibe when he wants to feel like a tragic rich kid from TV, but that come later. Today he’s here to show off his pragmatic badass side, the side that’s going to be champion of Alola in a few years. Lance cracks his knuckles together, glancing around the room thoughtfully. He can do this. Lance might not be the best trainer in Alola yet – that’s what his jerk teacher Iverson said at least – but he knows he’ll get there. 

  And the first step is having confidence, right? But, as the old saying goes, sometimes you got to fake it until you make it, and there’s no better way than with clothes. That’s what his dad always said.

  Lance glances over at Keith, who’s going through a few jackets with a look of confusion on his face, nose scrunched up adorably. He has a mole by his lip and other on his cheek now that Lance is closer to him, little beauty marks that add a bit of character to his face. He’s cute, jawline sharp enough to use for Stone Edge and giant eyes and just, he’s cute when he doesn’t look ready to fight everyone. It’s making it harder for Lance to consider Keith his rival.

  Which oh yeah, that’s a thing. Keith is like him, someone who wants to be champion and where Lance is outgoing and friendly, Keith is introverted and aloof. They’re opposites or close enough to it for it to make it interesting. Lance has read enough novels and Pokémon themed manga to know that every trainer needs a best friend and a (hopefully) friendly rival. Lance already has the best friend in Hunk, and well, Keith’s right here, like he was sent here to complete their trio. Lance just needs to work on the friendly part, because so far, he and Keith have kind of been getting off on the wrong foot because of the whole Keith being grumpy thing. 

  “You know if you want the dragon costume, you can just get it,” Hunk calls as he comes to stand behind him, smiling at Lance with a raised eyebrow. Lance stares at him blankly for a second and then looks down. oh right, the entire time he’s been sizing Keith up, he’s been standing in front of this Kommo-o costume. Lance gives it a quick once over and okay, he can see why Hunk thought he wanted it. It’s a little over the top and probably not great for actual battles, but it would be perfect for a show or a coordinator contest. But, Lance thinks with a small frown as he pulls his hand back from the metal and plastic, that’s a dream for a few years right now.

  “I’m not a coordinator yet, I can’t spend that kind of money unless I’m actually competing,” Lance says with a sigh as he turns his gaze to Hunk, cocking his head to the side a hair. Hunk gives him an understanding look, eyebrows sloping down as he moves to the left and gestures for Lance to follow, as though to get them away from the Kommo-o costume he wasn’t actually looking at and toward something more affordable. Lance grabs a pair of blue sunglasses off the shelf, sliding them on his face before he turns to Hunk with a mega-watt grin. “But maybe these sunglasses.”

  “I like them, you look really smart in them,” Hunk tells him with an easy grin, eyes lighting up as he glances over at Lance. No one builds Lance up as quickly as Hunk does, no one makes him feel so whole or at ease so quickly. Hunk’s always been the sun to his moon, in a way, his warm presence making Lance shine far more than he ever does when he’s alone with all the voices in the back of his mind telling him no. Hunk always, always tells him yes, yes, he can, that the road is for the taking.

   “Thank you, Hunk,” Lance murmurs softly, gazing over at Hunk with a softer expression, sunglasses hiding the warmth in his gaze as he bumps his friend with his arm. Then Lance catches Keith watching them, biting his lip a little as he buries his hand in Mona’s fur. Lance smirks at him, lowering the sunglasses so he can stare at Keith over them. “What do you think, Keith?”

  “Huh?” Keith asks as he cocks his head, eyes going wide and mouth slightly open. Fuck, he is kind of cute. Keith takes a few steps toward them, peering at the sunglasses like he’s trying to find out a secret about them. “They’ll probably keep your eyes safe?” 

  Lance snorts, shaking his head a little as he slides them back on the rack. Even though he’s only known Keith for about three hours, Lance thought he’d gotten a pretty good sense of the kid. A little hotheaded and competitive yet reserved and maybe even shy, though it’s hard for Lance to tell. But Lance hadn’t expected this awkwardness from Keith, and surprisingly, he kind of thinks it cute. Keith pokes a few charms on a shelf, scrunching his eyebrows together like he’s trying to figure out what they are. “Not much of a shopper, are you?”

  “I mean, I don’t hate it, I read the directory,” Keith throws out with a small shoulder roll, as though that’s not a super weird thing to say. Lance blinks owlishly, shaking his head a bit. Keith crosses his arms, making an expression that Lance thinks he wants to be a scowl but is more of a pout. “I like to know what’s at the mall.”

   “Right,” Hunk mutters, shaking his head and giving Keith one of his warm smiles, the kind that makes Lance feel at ease. Lance is surprised to feel his stomach turn a bit at the sight, not sure what’s going on, except that the way Hunk is looking at Keith is a way Lance kind of thought was well, reserved for him only. He guesses not. Keith glances up at him, gaze growing a little softer in the face of it, leaning forward on foot. “Are there any stores you want to go to? Or maybe test yourself out at the battle buffet first?” 

  Keith’s eyes light up, tiny frown turning into a bright smile as he throws his arms out in excitement. There’s something about the way he looks now, open and bright, that makes Lance take a step toward him and return his grin. Truth be told, Lance wouldn’t mind going to the battle buffet himself, watching veteran trainers has always been fun and maybe they’d even battle a trainer or two. Keith turns to them, pumping his fist a bit as he moves toward the door. “Yes!” 

  “I was joking,” Hunk says with a bright laugh, one Lance can’t help joining in on as he watches Keith twists around, expression sheepish as his hand stills on the door. Hunk cocks his head, leaning over to rest a hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith looks down at his hand, expression flitting from unease, as though no one’s ever touched him before (which Lance knows isn’t true since one of the elite four was ruffling his hair a few hours ago), to something accepting “But yeah, we can stop by, if you don’t mind if I just watch. Fighting isn’t really my thing.”

  “Aren’t you doing the island challenge?” Keith asks as he bites his lip, glancing at Hunk out of the corner of his eye. Lance gets ready to cut in, because not everyone likes to fight, but then Hunk let out a small chuckle. 

  “Only so I can become a professor,” Hunk explains as he pats Keith on the shoulder again, still not pulling his hand away even though it’s been there for like a minute. That’s kind of a longtime considering that they’ve only known Keith for a few hours. Lance is … well, he can’t decide if he likes Keith or not, but he gets a good vibe off of him, but Hunk’s taking it a little far. Keith cocks his head to the side, scrunching his nose up in confusion and okay, Lance can kind of see why Hunk wants to keep touching him. “A lot of schools want you to have battle experience first, which was really bad news for me.”

  “Oh, well, I’m sure you can do it, you seem really smart,” Keith assures him with a small grin, crooked and sweet compared to the awkward one he’s been giving them all day. Hunk raises an eyebrow, but then Keith points to his makeshift pokedex, clearly more advanced than either his own or Lance’s, and Hunk’s warm brown eyes grow soft. 

   Lance doesn’t miss the quick once over Keith gives Hunk as his friend finally pulls his hand away from Keith’s shoulder. Lance can’t blame him, Hunk is gorgeous; big brown eyes, smooth skin with a small mole near his bottom right lip, thick wavy hair, and lips curved so it always looks like he’s about to give someone one of his mega-watt smiles. Hunk’s gorgeous.

  “Yeah, he’s the smartest person in this room, Keith,” Lance snaps as he throws his arm over Hunk’s shoulder possessively, Hunk shooting him a confused look even as he doesn’t pull away. Lance seems just as thrown, crossing his arms and scowling again. Keith kind of misses his smile, but he didn’t like how Keith was looking at Hunk when Hunk is …  Wait, does Lance like Hunk? Except he was thinking Keith was cute a few minutes go, so does he like Keith too? Who is he even jealous of? Lance lets out a small groan, pulling Hunk toward the door Keith is still clinging to. “Look, just go to lose, okay." 

  Keith shoots him a tight glare, gaze heated as he marches over to the battle buffet and slams down some money. Within seconds they find them all on the other side of that red rope, watching as man in his sixties cheerfully battles a sous chef. Or Lance thought they all were, because Keith keeps going straight into the middle of the fray, Mona staying up here with them. Keith gives her a quick flic with his wrist so she stays, and goes up to the line. No way, he’s going in this quickly?

  And yeah, Lance watches as Keith throws out a pokeball, a lucario landing on the ground and of course Keith has a lucario. The Pokémon takes the same stance as his trainer, arms crossed as he gazes out over the chef’s arbok in front him. Keith seems ready to start fighting when the waiter next to the chef throws out a brionne. Keith grabs another pokeball, but oh no, Lance isn’t about to let him have all the glory. Besides they’re nominally a team now, right? Lance dives over the side of the bannister, ignoring Hunk’s low sigh as Blue flies off his shoulder and onto Hunk’s instead.

  Keith turns around and stares at him, eyes wide for a second like he hadn’t expected Lance to come help him. Rude. But Keith smirks as he meets his gaze, watching as Lance tosses out a ball and Lola pops out. Keith’s eyes widen for a second, maybe because she’s still a starter, but then he’s smirking again as he shouts for Lucario to do a power-up punch on Arbok, Lucario diving out more quickly than Lance expects, fist in the air. 

  Two can play at that game though, Lance nodding over at Keith as he shouts for Lola to use her razor leaf on that brionne. He and Keith watch as the other Pokémon flinch backwards, the arbok slithering and shaking its head, while Brionne lets out a small cry that makes Lance feel kind of bad. Still Lance glances at Keith, sharing a sense of pride as their Pokémon take on what Lance imagines is both they’re first real adult battle. It’s nice to win with someone by his side.

  Except they totally lose, but that doesn’t feel so bad either. They put up quite a fight, enough so that the chef and the waiter compliment them both and give them each a full revive for their troubles. They don’t get any food though, and Lance is a little miffed by that. It is a battle _buffet_ , they should at least get a dinner roll out of it.   

  “Looks like I really wasn’t supposed to eat those dumplings,” Keith mutters with a small laugh, short and rasp as he bumps Lance’s shoulder. Lance scoffs, sending him quick smirk and trying to hide his surprise. Keith’s leaned over to brush Lucario, whispering about how he did well and calling him a ‘good boy’ and noting they’ll win next time around. It’s kind of sweet, Lance thinks as he gives Lola another check over, making sure the potions Hunk got for them took care of any bruises. Lola preens under his attention, hopping into his lap to press her face against his cheek before nodding toward her luxury ball. Lola always did like a nap after a battle. 

  “No, but I have to say that you did pretty well out there, especially if you really are just starting out,” Lance admits as he shoots the other boy a small smile, before turning back to watch as Lola pops back into her ball with a quick nudge. That way Keith can’t see the flash of fear, of hurt in Lance’s gaze. They might be closer now, fighting together does that, but Lance isn’t ready to let a near stranger see his fears. Keith is … better at fighting than him, has natural instincts for what his Pokémon should do that Lance doesn’t and isn’t even sure he could learn. It’s a little disheartening, is all.

  “Couldn’t have done it without your help,” Keith says warmly, and Lance glances over at him to find Keith giving him the same crooked smile he gave Hunk earlier, gaze almost playful as he calls his Lucario back into his ball.

  “Yeah, I guess we make a pretty good team after all,” Lance admits with a small grin, leaning over to bump fists with Keith. Keith stares at his hand for a second, cocking his head as though he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do here. Then Keith gingerly holds up his fist, lightly bumping his knuckles against Lance’s own and to be honest not at a great angle. Lance turns away with a small sigh, because okay, they can work on that. Lance is sure Keith’ll have the hang of it by the time they get to Akala Island. 

  “We all do,” Hunk calls as he suddenly comes up from behind them, more potions in hand. Hunk sets them down on the table, gazing from Lance to Keith and back with slightly watery eyes. Lance counts to five in his head, and by three Hunk has dropped down and pulled them both into a bear hug. “I’m just so glad I’m here with both of you, on the start of this beautiful journey – “

  “Is the adrenaline maybe getting to you?” Keith murmurs, eyes wide as he stares up at Hunk, a small frown etched on his face. He makes no move to pull away though, Lance notices, not even when Lance starts to himself. Lance feels the same surge of jealousy from before and tries to bury it, because this isn’t even romantic. Keith just hugs longer than him. It’s not a big deal. 

  “It is, but he’s also a hugger, so prepare for a lot of that over the next few weeks,” Lance mock-whispers as Keith finally pulls away, his own eyes growing even wider at Lance’s words. Lance smirks a bit as Hunk flushes, looking sheepish but not especially ashamed as he rubs the back of his neck. Hunk shouldn’t be, no hug was better than a Hunk hug. Lance pauses, biting his lip as his mind flashes back to the battle that he and Keith just lost. “Or months, I guess we might lose a couple of times.”

  “Where are we staying tonight?” Hunk asks as they make the slow crawl out of the battle buffet, Blue landing back on his shoulder as she gently pecks around his face to look for injuries. Lance grins and brushes his fingers through her feathers, cooing at her gently. Hunk pokes him on the shoulder, and lance glances because oh, right.

  “There’s a motel up ahead, I’m sure it can’t be that bad,” Lance answers with a quick nod, because he’s already calculated that he and Hunk can stay there for a week if they split it, and with Keith here, now it’s split by three. Keith glances between them anxiously and Lance watches as his houndour comes up and nuzzles him, Keith taking a few deep breaths before nodding. Social anxiety maybe? But no, that’s not any of Lance’s business.

  Lance grins as he leads them down the street, glancing around the city with a bit of longing. Lance hopes he can convince Hunk and Keith to spend some time here after they beat Ilium’s trial, at least get some photos at the Pokémon club. The walk to the motel’s is about an hour, conversation flowing between him and Hunk, Keith chiming in every so often. Now that he’s past his excitement over seeing a flareon, Lance is a bit wary about traveling with a stranger, but another part of him feels sure he made the right choice, Keith’s occasional half-smiles and quips and the way Hunk laughs at them only furthering that feeling that he’s found the perfect rival.

  Now if only Lance could figure out who he has a crush on, if anyone, everything would be perfect.

* * *

  The motel is nice the first week, but then they don’t defeat Ilima quick enough. Hunk isn’t like surprised, because looking back, any of them getting through Ilima’s trial. Ilima’s a strong trainer and pretty logical, and he completely changed his trial – all of the old captains did – when they stopped being for 11 year olds and started being for adults. Now they have to collect 20 totem stickers each, planted all along route 2, often with a battle involved. Lance and Keith are both great trainers, but finding the stickers is still hard, especially when half of them are up berry trees or underneath rocks or under tables in the middle of Malasada shops.

  Hunk … well, he feels like fighting isn’t his strength. Upgrading his friends pokedexes to read where random Pokémon are in the grass? Totally doable. Mixing potions and knowing which berries cure poison or help with colds? Hunk’s the man with the plan. Coming up with fight strategies like Lance or just somehow knowing what to say or do when a Vulpix is lunging at Keith? Hunk isn’t the one. He also hates seeing anything of his Pokémon get weaker or fall asleep in battle, so he kind of … doesn’t fight with most of them. So yeah, it takes Hunk a few extra tries to defeat some of the trainers, but he also finds the totem stickers the fastest, so it’s been a pretty fair trade off so far.

  But fair or not, it doesn’t change the fact that they take an extra week than planned, which means that even with Keith paying a third of the bill, money for this part of the trip is getting a little tight. They don’t need any for Akala Island, and hopefully Keith will let them crash at his house when they go to Ula’ula Island after, but they still want to save up for food and clothes. They could do odd jobs if they need to, but their time here is so short it doesn’t really seem worth it. 

  So instead they switch to a room with one bed for the last two nights, Hunk and Lance agreeing to share while Keith sleeps on the floor in a sleeping bag. That makes Hunk worried that Keith would’ve spent the entire time he was on Memele Island sleeping outside if they hadn’t found him, though Hunk gets the sense Keith would’ve been okay. He’s watched him hang off the tree tops just to get a sticker and try to slide down a waterfall. Lance does stuff like too, but usually Hunk can talk him out of it or and Lance well … he doesn’t go quite as far as Keith.

  Speaking of Keith, the other boy is just waking up, letting out a small yawn as he rolls up suddenly, arms outstretched. Next to him, his houndour Mona bumps his waist, while his flareon curls up closer to his torracat next to his head and his Lucario stretches out his arms, bumping his cubone in the nose. The cubone lets out a small cry, and Keith sleepy turns around to give it a quick half hug, glancing around the room quickly as though he hopes the rest of them hadn’t seen him.

  Lance, overhearing the cry, wakes up as well with a low yawn, arms wrapped lazily around Lola and Winnie, who had both climbed up on the bed at some point. Betsy and Genevieve are curled up on the floor next to him, Hunk’s own Jasper at the foot of the bed, legs stretched out to just bump Winnie. 

  Almandine evolved into a Mudsdale a few months back, so she was in her pokeball because there wasn’t enough space for her in the hotel room and Hunk didn’t like to leave her outside overnight. Citrine sat next to him, slicing berries with their hand and eating little bits of them or offering them to Hunk. 

  “I’m sorry you had to sleep on the floor last night,” Hunk murmurs as he catches Keith staring at him, taking in the way his hair stuck everywhere and his eyes still weren’t fully open. Keith gives him a small wave, rolling to his feet as he comes to stand next to small kitchen area at the corner of their hotel. Keith shrugs a bit, glancing down at Amethyst like he maybe wants to pet her, but isn’t sure if he’s allowed to yet. Hunk grins as he pours some eggs onto a plate and pushes them toward Keith. “But here, I made you breakfast! I hope you like scrambled eggs and toast? I have granola, if you don’t.”

  “No, this is great, thank you,” Keith tells him with a quick nod as he takes the plate, sliding onto the edge of the bed. Lance glances down at him and frowns, before letting out a low sigh as he slumps out of the bed. Lance still looks half asleep, bangs pressed to the right and eyes soft as he walks over to Hunk’s side, Blue flying behind Lance before landing on his shoulder. Keith takes a bite of the eggs, swallowing and giving Hunk an almost sheepish look. “To be honest, I was just going to eat some protein bars.”

  “What? That’s it?” Hunk asks as his eyes widen, scrunching his eyebrows together as he waits for the joke. Hunk puts Lance’s eggs on top of his toast, just the way he likes it, earning a bright smile from Lance and a quick chirp from Blue. Lance slides onto the bed next to Keith, glancing over at him like he’s waiting for the punchline too. It never comes. “You can’t live off of that.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Keith answers with a small laugh, a hint of bitterness there that fades quickly into something more like pride. Somehow that makes Hunk’s stomach churn as he slides the rest of the eggs onto his own plate, grabbing some toast on his way to the bed. Keith smirks as he picks up his toast, glancing between the two of them. “I made it on two pieces of bread for two days the third time I ran away from Aether house.” 

  Lance glances at him, eyes wide and all Hunk can do is shake his head. He hadn’t known that about Keith either. Lance scrunches his eyebrows, taking another bite of toast and looking like he’s trying to think of a reply. “Well, that was a bummer.”

  “Lance!” Hunk shouts, eyes wide as he flops onto the bed, just barely keeping his eggs and toast in his hands. Keith looks surprised, eyes going wide for a moment before his face goes back to his resting neutral expression as he takes another bite of his egg. Lance raises an eyebrow and Hunk bites his lip, because oh, were they supposed to be impressed by that story instead of kind of sad? “But you turned out okay and now look at you, you’re here doing the island challenge. And you’ve only gotten beaten up once this week – “

  “Good pep talk, Hunk,” Lance jokes as he bumps his shoulder, earning a sharp huff from Hunk, because he thought it was going pretty well. Until the end. Next to him, Keith makes a sound that’s halfway between a grunt and a laugh, Lance preening a little as he glances over at Keith. “But yeah, we’re all here and we’re about to take on Ilima and get that Normalium Z!” 

  “Let’s see who gets it first,” Keith calls as he leans back on the bed, lean yet muscular arms bare in his black tank top. Hunk knows Lance is staring at them, gaze lidded, because Hunk is too. The churning feeling in his stomach comes back as Keith’s and Lance’s gazes meet, both boys smirking as Lance leans forward, one hand coming to rest under his chin. Hunk doesn’t know what this feeling is, but he doesn’t like it.

  “Is that a challenge, mullet?” Lance mutters, voice rising a bit and sounding annoyed, but there’s an undercurrent to it that’s almost flirty, soft and warm as Lance leans closer to Keith on the bed.

  “What?” Keith says as he glances back at Lance, cocking his head to the side as he narrows his gaze. It looks a little like he’s trying to decide if Lance is friendly or a threat. Hunk can’t tell where he lands, just that his stomach churns again when Keith smirks and picks up his toast, never once taking his eyes off of Lance. “I mean, if you want it to be, it can be. But I got to warn you, I don’t back down.”

  “Luca!” Lucario cries as he rolls up next to Keith, who hands him a bit of egg. Lance raises an eyebrow and Lucario playfully throws a punch in the air, Lance quietly inching backwards on the bed. Keith’s smirk grows just a hair wider as he leans over and gives the lucario a fist bump, not looking back at Lance, who’s now looking up sheepishly at the ceiling. Hunk shoots him a small grin, because hey, who wouldn’t be a little nervous about a lucario with a fist up?

  “I think he agrees with you,” Hunk murmurs to Keith as he bends down, because nervous or not, this is the closest any of Keith’s Pokémon have gotten to him and Lance besides Mona and the flareon, and Hunk isn’t going to waste this chance. He’d like to include Keith’s Pokémon in his pre-university studies, if Keith and they are all cool with it. But he feels like he needs to have a bond with them first. Lucario looks up at Hunk, cocking their head to the side and making the same confused face Keith does. “Hey little guy, do you like to fight? I guess so, you’re a lucario, that’s kind of your thing. My Pokémon all hate fighting.” 

   “Wait really?” Keith calls as he sits back up from his half lounging position, empty plate in hand. Keith shrugs as he rolls to his feet, taking a few steps over to the sink. “I mean, that’s fine, you don’t want to be a trainer. Robert does like fighting though, you’re right.”

  “Who’s Robert?” Lance asks as he comes to stand behind Keith, drying off the plate Keith hands him as he waits for an answer. Keith glances at him, biting his lip and then glances down at his Lucario pointedly. Hunk hands Keith his plate and tries to hide the surprise in his gaze. He doesn’t think he manages. Lance definitely doesn’t, mouth hanging open and one eyebrow quirked. “Wait, your lucario’s name is Robert? I thought you just got Mona already named. What’s your flareon’s name? Or your magikarp?” 

  “Seong-Jin and Karen,” Keith answers as he hands Lance another plate to dry, taking Hunk’s to wash as he stiffens a little. Lance scrunches his eyebrow together and opens his mouth and then closes it, as though he can’t think of a response. They are … interesting names for a Pokémon, but then hey, Keith seems like he’s a pretty interesting guy, so Hunk guesses that makes sense. Keith glances up at them as he starts on the fork, gaze flitting between them and – oh right, he probably expects an answer. “Cubone’s name is Spike?”

  “Those are good names,” Hunk tells Keith with a warm grin, patting him on the shoulder as he comes to stand next to both of them. Lance wraps his towel around the forks and smiles a bit at both of them. Hunk glances over at Jasper on the bed, rolling around on Winnie. Seong-Jin joined them at some point, curling up toward Winnie and Jasper. Chalcedony is gently bumping Spike the cubone, Betsy watching both of them from where she’s gliding across the room. “Jolteon’s name is Jasper and my carbink here is Chalcedony, and the kartana on the counter is Citrine. Rockruff is Amethyst.”

  “Oh, cool theme,” Keith says with a crooked smile, eyes crinkling slightly s he bends toward Amethyst again. Hunk catches his eye and nods minutely, feeling a surge of triumph and warmth when Keith gingerly pets her for a few minutes. 

  Hunk gives him a bright smile, because he’s glad someone appreciates his genius. Hunk leans over and reaches a hand out toward Mona thoughtlessly and then stops, locking eyes with Keith. Keith takes a deep breath and then nods, watching as Hunk gives her a few small pats before rolling back to standing at the same time Keith does. “Thank you!”

  “Well, Winnie and Blue here and Lola and Genevieve and Betsy here are all happy you’re both happy with your nerdy names,” Lance teases them as he leans back against the sink, twisting around so he can face both of them. Hunk sees a flash of something that’s almost like jealousy in his gaze, but then Lance grins as he pushes forward, grabbing his bag as he heads toward the bathroom without looking at either of them. Hunk thinks he must have been projecting. “But let’s go, we got a school to get to." 

  Twenty minutes and two outfits changes later, Hunk finds himself on the road through Hau’oli city with Keith and Lance, taking deep breaths as he reminds himself he can do this. Amethyst is nuzzling his leg in time with his breathes, which helps a lot. The island challenge is something almost everyone in Alola does when they come of age and Lance and Keith will cheer him on. All Hunk has to do is win and make sure all of his Pokémon are okay.

  Besides, Lance and Keith are nervous too, even if it’s a different kind of nervous, Keith walking a little too fast, Mona tugging gently on his black jeans and Hunk and Blue bopping up and down inside Lance’s hoodie. They’re both more excited than scared, and a small part of Hunk wishes he could be like that too. The feeling hasn’t left him by the time they arrive at the school and find themselves face to face with a pink-haired man. Ilima.

  He’s one of the last child prodigies before the age switch, having grown up to become a master of TM’s and a three-time champion. His skills in battle strategy are unparalleled (Hunk knows because it was on Ilima’s facts section in the poster he and Lance got out of his cereal box) even now that he’s in his mid 40s. Not that you’d known from looking at him, long pink hair tied up in a ponytail that lies over his shoulder as he moves swiftly toward the three of them with his hands clasped. 

  “you must be the trainers coming to see me,” Ilima calls as they all walk onto the grey asphalt of the schoolyard, lining up side by side. Keith has his arms crossed, gaze tight as he watches Ilima, as though he can figure out his deal just by staring at him. Lance, meanwhile, as a hand on his hip and is giving his most confident smile, though Hunk can see the nervous tilt to it. Hunk himself gets it, biting his lip and looking everywhere but at the pink-haired, sunny trial captain in front of him. “Which one of you would like to go first?”

  “Me!” Lance and Keith cry at the same time, both of them freezing and shooting the other one a heated glare. Hunk takes a few steps to the left, not wanting to be involved in whatever bickering they were about to get into, because he’s learned the best thing to do is to let them work it out for themselves.

   “Oh, well then I’ll take the third one on, I think,” Ilima says cheerfully, both Keith and Lance freezing mid-argument to shoot him wide-eyed stares. Hunk would think it was funny, if the third one wasn’t him. Hunk takes a deep breath, eyebrows sloping to the side as he walks over to Ilima and pulls his pokeball out with a sigh. Amethyst is at his side, nuzzling his leg and gently nipping him. Ilima claps his hands together and grins brightly. “Let’s both do our best.”

  Hunk sends out Jasper first, letting out a small sigh of relief when Ilima sends out a smeagle. It’s not the smeagle, the one he’s had since childhood. Ilima saves that for when it’s his turn to be one of the Elite 4. still, this Smeargle is tough, tackling Jasper and knocking him off his heat to the ground. Hunk lets out a small cry of panic, yelling for Jasper to thundershock. The Smeargle cries out as Jasper shoots off electricity from his body, yellow spikes on edge as he does. Smeagle, after two more rounds and tackles on poor Jasper, finally goes down.

  Hunk calls Jasper back, biting back a laugh as he runs behind his legs instead of into his ball. Hunk sends out Almandine, who immediately kicks the grown with her hoof, clearly wanting to go for a ride. But then Ilima sends out a yungoos, that immediately uses pursuit, dashing forward and knocking Almandine off her feet. She lets out a loud cry and Hunk’s ready to call her back, when he hears a yell of ‘you can do it, big guy’ from the sidelines and glances over to find Lance waving his arms back and forth, while Keith is giving him an awkward thumbs up and a crooked smile.

  His friends believe in him. He can do this.

  Hunk starts shouting moves, watching as Almandine barrels toward the yungoos, hitting him at the same time Hunk finishes the word ‘slam’ in ‘body slam’. It takes a few more moves, and much to Hunk’s dismay, a few more hits on poor Almandine, but eventually the yungoos admits defeat, lying on the ground until Ilima picks them up. Ilima feeds them a potion while Hunk turns back to his team with wide eyes and a look of shock, because he just won his first battle with a trial captain just like that!

  “That was most impressive! You’re truly a strong fighter and I can’t wait to see you take on Verdant cave,” Ilima tells Hunk as they finish the fight, helping Hunk to lift up Almandine’s mouth to slip the bottle into her mouth. She hates drinking potions, but Hunk just bats her nose softly, because she also knows they’re good for her. He gives Jasper a few more berries, just to make sure his energy really is where it should be.

  “Thank you, that’ wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be,” Hunk admits with a small grin, shaking his head a bit as he calls Almandine back into her ball after one last check over, figuring she’d want to sleep after the battle. Jasper curls up at his feet, tail wrapped under him.  

  Ilima grins, shaking his at Hunk’s words before patting him on the shoulder, walking him back toward Keith and Lance. Hunk watches as he peers over at the two boys, no longer talking to one another. Keith has his arms crossed tighter than before, glowering at the ground as though it did something to offend him. Lance, meanwhile, gazes up at the sky, frowning with his eyebrows sloped down. Clearly their bickering didn’t end on the best note, but then he smiles over at them both anyway, because hey, this is his moment. The two seem to realize it, both giving him tight smiles, Lance hugging him and Keith giving him a quick thumbs up. Then Ilima speaks and the tension comes back. “Now, let me see, which of you two seems more – “

  “I’m ready!” Keith yells before Lance can even move, taking one step forward, gaze almost wild. Hunk expects Lance to jump in, but instead Lance is just glancing over at both of them, gaze at once curious and miffed, a hint of worry beneath both. Hunk feels the same emotions coming over him. “Let’s do this!” 

  “Impulsive, aren’t you?” Ilima murmurs thoughtfully, gaze flitting back and forth between all three of them like he’s trying to solve a puzzle. Hunk can relate to that. “Let’s see how that goes.” 

  Hunk guesses they will, when all is said and done, all three boys leaving the school with a new mark on their trainer’s passport. Hunk just hopes that Verdant Cave is another step closer together. 

* * *

  It takes another six days to make it through Verdant Cave, Ilima having added new steps there, including a riddle. Hunk and Lance go together, and they make it through faster than Keith by himself, but … he’s letting himself get too attached. Even if he is traveling with Lance and Hunk for now, eventually they’ll leave Memele Island and well, Keith knows the score. They’ll go off on their own, realizing that Keith isn’t worth the effort. Everyone else has except and lately, well, all Shiro talks to him about is him becoming a trial captain. Otherwise he doesn’t have time for him.

  Keith isn’t an idiot. He can see the writing on the wall, even if he wishes he couldn’t. He’s 18 now and even if Shiro helped get him Mona and let him stay with him and his mom for four and a half years … he still probably expects something for that investment, right? And Keith isn’t giving him one. He’s failing him at every turn, too awkward to make useful allies, too … just not good enough to be a trial captain. Eventually Shiro is going to see that too.

  And Lance and Hunk just wanted him for Seong-Jin. They’re not bad people, the opposite actually. They’re kind and friendly, putting up with all of Keith’s weird quirks, but none of that changes that Keith knows why he’s here. Eventually they’re going to realize they don’t need a third wheel even if he does have a flareon. Especially since they haven’t kissed once since they started traveling together, and Keith has to imagine, with all their lazy, intimate touches, that has to be for his benefit. Eventually they’re going to want to make out without him in the corner of the room.

  Besides, even without them dating, Lance wants a teammate, and Keith isn’t that person. He has no idea how to battle in pairs to travel together, and their methods, their values just seem too different to overcome. Lance and Hunk are good people who have dreams beyond training, who have families and things and people to lose. Keith … he wants to keep his Pokémon safe and make Shiro proud and be good, even if he’s not quite sure what that means yet. But Keith has no idea how to do that except overextending himself and pushing even when it hurts, and Lance and Hunk don’t deserve to be dragged into that kind of life.

  So yeah, Keith did Verdant Cave by himself, is what he’s saying.

  “We finally finished the cave, so I guess it’s time to battle the kahuna,” Keith murmurs as he lays out a few pieces of paper, travel plan for the next few weeks, or months he guesses, glancing at the different drawings. He wonders if he should add more yellow to Hau’s shirt? He feels yellow to Keith, from the commercials he’s seen on TV.  Lance comes over to glance at his map, eyes widening as he takes in all of the doodles, before he scrunches face up. Somehow it makes his freckles more visible than they were a second ago. Keith scowls slightly, quickly folding up his math before he thinks any more about Lance’s (or Hunk’s for that matter) face or anyone can comment on his sketches.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to wait a day or two? You seemed pretty beat after the cave,” Hunk points out as he leans over Keith’s shoulder, peering at his face and frowning tightly. Keith pulls away, crossing his arms as he shoots Hunk a quick scowl. Keith _is_ a bit tired, but that’s more because of all the things he’s been thinking about and not the challenge, and it’s not exactly like he can say that to Hunk.

  “I probably shouldn’t have tried to go through the tunnels,” Keith admits instead, smirking as he tries to lighten the mood, leaning back on the edge of the bed. He expects a playful eye roll or some laughs. That isn’t what he gets.

  “What? Of course you shouldn’t have, what we’re you thinking? Are you okay?” Lance asks as his voice rises with each word as he leans over toward Keith, until their eye to eye. Keith raises an eyebrow, because he doesn’t see how this is any of Lance’s business. Besides, Keith is fine. The first tunnel, nothing went wrong, the second a raticate bit him and he put a Band-Aid on it. it’s not a big deal. Lance finally pulls away, sitting on the edge of the bed and letting out a low exhale. “I knew we shouldn’t have let you go through the cave by yourself.” 

  Keith crosses his arms against his chest, taking a step back toward the back of the room as he shoots Lance a heated glare. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

  “Nothing, just you can be kind of … rash sometimes,” Hunk says as he holds a hand up, palm facing him. He’s smiling, eyebrows scrunched as Amethyst moves in front of him, almost mirroring Mona doing the same in front of him. Keith has no idea what Mona’s doing, but he guesses Hunk is nervous or maybe worried? But why? Hunk glances at Lance, and then takes a deep breath before he starts talking again. “Most of the past week, if I’m being exact. I was kind of assuming that was normal for you.” 

  “I like to be direct,” Keith mutters as he takes another half-step toward the word, tone more distant now as he glances away from both of them and down to Mona, brushing a hand over her fur. This is where it starts. Where they realize he’s - Keith doesn’t need – he can handle a trial by himself. 

   “I feel like you can be direct without crawling through a cave filled with wild raticates,” Lance points out with a small scoff, turning his head to the side. Keith shrugs because maybe, but he had gotten his trial done, so he doesn’t see what the problem is. Lance glances over at him, eyebrows sloping down as his expression looks almost worried. Lance is worried about him? Keith takes a step closer to Lance and Hunk, fingers spreading out against the firm bone on Mona’s back as she whines. “What if one of them had bit you?”

  “I bandaged it up,” Keith grumbles, pausing mid-step at Lance’s words. Lance’s mouth hangs open for a second as he just stares at Keith, like he has a million things he wants to say, but instead he just turns his gaze toward Blue. Keith bites his lip, crossing his arms again as he mentally readies himself for a fight.

  Hunk steps between them, giving each of them a tight look, eyebrows scrunched together. Keith glances at Lance out of the corner of his eye, mimicking the other boy as he slumps a bit, letting his arms fall to the side at the same time Lance does. Hunk looks between them and smiles brightly, almost proud, and throws his arms around their shoulders. “Well, let’s walk to Hau’s trial site together. You know, explore the sites.”

  “You don’t trust me to walk to his captain site alone?” Keith says even as he doesn’t pull away from Hunk, scowling a little as they move toward the door. Hunk doesn’t react the way people usually do to his scowl though, gaze growing almost softer as he pulls back his arm. Lance catches his eye and smirks a little, like he and Hunk know some secret about Keith they’ve decided not to tell him. Which, whatever.

  “No, I know you’ll be fine, but we want to go with you,” Lance scoffs, shaking his head a little and looking annoyed as he bumps Keith’s shoulder. The move is half competitive, half friendly, and Keith has no idea what to make of it. Then Lance gives him a small, unsure smile. “We are your friends, right?" 

  “Yeah, right, let’s just go,” Keith mutters in a low voice, mood suddenly dropping as he starts marching down the path from the hotel. Keith ruffles Mona and wishes he could kneel down and hug her, but he only does that when he’s alone and he’s never alone anymore. Keith is terrified all of the sudden, Lance’s words ringing in his mind. Are they his friends? Do they want to be his friends? Why would they want to be his friends? None of this makes any sense.

  Keith takes a few deep breaths as they get to the bottom of the hill, closing his eyes as he lets his hand rest in Mona’s fur. Patience equals focus. He can do this and he has to do this. They still have to get through Hau’oli City and battle Hau and Keith isn’t going to lose. He needs this, needs to feel more like himself. Keith Song is a loner, someone who can take care of themselves. Shiro has been there, but even there – he’s Shiro’s protégé, not someone for Shiro to take care of. This is – not calming him down, actually. Keith bites his lip and forces himself to focus on the light breeze around him, the salty scent of the ocean air, Mona’s soft barks.

  After that, Keith feels better, calmer, as he opens his eyes. Lance and Hunk are watching him, but there’s no judgment in their gazes, just relief and something like understanding. Lance brushes a hand over Amethyst and Lance chirps at Blue, and then they keep walking toward the bus in Hau’oli. Lance and Hunk sit together on one side, Amethyst in Hunk’s lap. Keith sits on the other side, by himself, Mona curling up next to him in the empty seat. He spends the entire ride staring out the window.   

  “You must be the three trainers Ilima told me about,” Hau calls as they come off the bus in Iki Town. He’s in his early 40s, though he looks younger, hair in a thick ponytail and laughter lines round his eyes as he smiles. Keith watches him, and then glances out at Lance out of the corner of his eye in case he’s supposed to be offering his hand to shake or bowing or something. But Lance is just standing there smiling, gaze determined, so Keith figures he’s doing okay. “The cautious but compassionate Hunk, the loud but logical Lance, and the brash but brave Keith.”

  “He gave us descriptors?” Keith asks before he can stop himself, cocking his head to the side as narrows his gaze. Is he brash? He doesn’t think of himself like that, he’s pretty quiet. But then Keith guesses all Ilima’s seen of him is him demanding to go second and crawling through raticate tunnels, and maybe that seems brash? Is it good to be brash? Keith doesn’t – he’s never been into the … spectacle side of being a trainer. He doesn’t understand why he has to have a personality and do interviews. He’s not a coordinator. “We only talked to him for like an hour.”

   “Ilima has a flair for the dramatic,” Hau admits with a warm laugh, shaking his head a bit as he gives them all a once over. Keith wonders if he’s trying to figure out Ilima’s assessment of them was right or not. Keith crosses his arms against his chest at the thought, biting his lip as he stares over at the trial site. He doesn’t care what Hau sees on his face, he cares about the fight they’re about to have, the next step toward finishing his island challenge. Keith can think about the rest later. Right now, he needs to focus.

  “A great quality,” Lance says with a grin, wriggling his eyebrows as he glances between Hunk and Keith, earning a chortle from Hunk, who throws his hands out. Keith surprises himself but letting out a small laugh, covering his mouth for a second as though that will somehow reverse it.

  “For Ho-Oh maybe, it can be kind of obnoxious on a person,” Keith mutters as he turns away from Lance and Hunk with a scowl, crossing his arms. He can feel Hunk’s eyes boring into his back, imagine the annoyance and disappointment in his gaze. The last three weeks have been good, Keith’s been good, he doesn’t know why he’s acting like this now. Except Lance’s words keep ringing in the back of his head, no matter how hard Keith tries to focus on the fight instead, and he _needs_ to concentrate.

  “What’s that supposed to mean, mullet?” Lance snaps as he takes a few steps toward Keith, eyebrows scrunched together as he gets in Keith’s face again, just like he did this morning. It pisses Keith off, but at the same time there’s something almost nice about it that Keith can’t explain. He also can’t really focus on it since Lance has leaned in even more, mouth pressed into a thin line. “At least I’m not a hothead who just runs in and starts fighting everyone because I don’t have any common sense, that’s what brash means, you know.” 

  “My brain’s larger than a cutiefly, so yeah, I did,” Keith retorts as he presses his face up close to Lance’s, balling his hands into fists as he shoots Lance an equally heated stare. Keith’s rubbing his fingers over his thumb, trying to figure out why Lance riles him up so easily, what about him brings all of this to the surface when Keith’s done such a good job of keeping it buried for so long – and, and – Mona is all the way by Hunk.

  “Hey!” Lance shouts as he narrows his gaze at Keith, and Keith stiffens, preparing for the fight, for the criticisms. Instead Lance pulls back suddenly, slumping a bit as he takes a step back. There’s still frustration, annoyance in his voice, but there’s something softer there too, something Keith doesn’t understand because he didn’t earn it. “Just go fight Hau.”

  Keith nods, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths, flicking Mona's ear gently so she knows to stay there. it's not fair to take her up to the battle. She'd be giving him an unfair advantage. Keith walks the stairs until he's face to face with Hau, and crosses his arms, gaze narrowing as he tries to get a read on the older man. Hau, just smiles, sending out a Decidueye, who flaps his wings and lets out a loud cry. Keith smirks, because a grass type? Keith is more than ready for that. Keith sends out Deathclaw, watching as she scratches at the ground, expression fiery as she lunges toward the other Pokemon. She's always been, after Robert, his most hotheaded team member. Keith shouts for her to use fire fang, watching as she aims for Dartrix's left wing and just manages to snag him, the other Pokemon letting out a sharp cry and sending Deathclaw a hard glare. Hau's smile grows a little more thoughtful. "Go for the smack down, Decidueye!"

  Keith winces as Deathclaw is hit with a the full force of the bird, wings spread out as it slams down on her, Deathclaw not quite managing to jump back in time. Keith wishes he could be the one fighting instead of her. Deathclaw looks back at him and makes a hissing sound and Keith shouts flamethrower, blasting out heat until Decideye finally flies out of the ring. that's when Keith sends Seong-Jin in, watching as he ruffles his fur a little as Hau tosses out his pokeball. a Vaporeon. Keith bites his lip, because of course it would be. He's about to call Seong-Jin back when Seong-Jin shakes his head, instead diving forward as Keith grins and shouts out bite, because he and Seong-Jin really are a lot alike. The vaporeon lets out a small whine as Seong-Jin bites them, eyes widening as though they feel betrayed by getting one-upped by a fire type. Vaporeon uses water gun, sending Seong-Jin flying back across the rink, until he almost goes straight out of it, but he just manages to hold on.

  Seong-Jin glances back at him and barks, clearly ready to go, but Keith shakes his head and calls him back, because his instincts and common sense (because he does have _some_ ) are telling him that this will only end badly. Besides, Spike hasn't gotten to fight in awhile. Spike pops out of his ball and shakes his bone in the air cheerfully, waving it toward vaporeon. Hau gives him a quick look of surprise, because cubones are weak to water types, but Keith just knows this is the right move. he's proven right a second later when Cubone tosses out his bone like a boomerang, hitting vaporeon at just the right angle to knock them out of the ring. Cubone hops up and down cheerfully - only to be knocked off its feet as Hau sends out a Komala that goes right into a rollout. Spike hits the ground with a low thud, wrappping his hands tightly around his bone like it's a shield as well as a weapon.

  Keith calls Spike back in, frowning tightly as he lets out a small cry of relief. Keith wonders if he shouldn't have sent him out there, if he's not ready yet, but then at some point he has to learn, right? Keith pushes the thought aside, throwing out his next pokeball and watching as Robert lands, fists up as he gazes over at the Komala thoughtfully. Keith wonders if he's reading his aura, and gives Robert a small smirk that Robert acknowledges by cocking their head, bouncing back and forth on one foot before lunging forward and using a sort of a half mix of dynamic punch and well, a tackle, lunging his body at the Komala at a high speed. It works, Komala going flying out of the bounds of the rink. Only one more Pokemon left. Hau sends out a raichu, gliding on top of their tail and looking just like their trainer.

  Keith should send Seong-Jin back in, maybe even Spike, but his instincts are telling him it's time. Keith doesn't like the feeling, but they rarely lead him astray - in battle, anyway. Keith throws out his pokeball and watches as Karen flops in the air. He can feel Lance staring at him, and glances back to find the boy with his hands on his hips, eyebrows sloped forward. "A magikarp?! Keith, what are you doing?"

  "Just trust me, okay?" Keith snap, because it's not even Lance's battle. Even if they were a team, they couldn't be one right now. Raichu uses tackle, bouncing Karen around and letting her flop across the rink. Keith bites his lip, and shouts for Karen to tackle him back. 

  "Go Karen!" Hunk shouts and Keith turns on his heel, mouth hanging open in shock as he finds Lance waving his arms and jumping up and down like his own personal cheering squad. Hunk follows suit after a minute, making a motion with his hand that looks like a dragon. Keith feels his heart beat a little faster, smiling softly as he glances down at Karen.

  "They're right, we can do this, Karen, go tackle that raichu," Keith calls as he smiles down at her, watching as Karen lunges through the air. Then something strange happens, Karen glowing as she glides through the air, body stretching out and limbs shifting. Keith's eyes widen, mouth falling open as Karen the Gyarados emerges on the other side, doing a full body slam into the raichu and pushing them out of the bounds of the rink. Keith won and Karen finally evolved after years and years of trying. Keith just wishes he knew why now was the moment, even as he happily runs to her side and runs his down her spines, letting her curl her large body around him before he sends her back into her ball. Keith wouldn't want her to get dehydrated. 

  “You did well, young Keith,” Hau tells him with a warm grin, cocking his head and running a hand across his beard as he stares over at Keith. Then he glances past him at Hunk and Lance, lips twisting into a knowing smirk as he slowly brings his gaze back to Keith. Keith swallows, nerves coming back to him even though he’s already won the fight. “But I noticed you and your friend we’re fighting just now. I hope you don’t mind me making an educated guess here, but might I guess that friendship with people rather than Pokémon is new for you?”

  “We’ve only known each other for three weeks,” Keith explains in a small voice, crossing his arms as he stares past Hunk and back at the trial site. That’s the thing, he likes Lance and Hunk, he wants to be – of course he wants to be their friend, but everything is moving too fast. Quick bonds lead to broken ones. But wait. Keith shifts his gaze back to Hau, biting his lip as he stares up at the older man, because it’s not like the fact that his only friend is Shiro is well-known about him. How could Hau read him so quickly when almost no one can? “Wait – how’d you know?”

  “You remind me of a close friend of mine who started off kind of grumpy too. He was younger than you, but we all were then,” Hau says with a slight chuckle, eyes twinkling as he rests a hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith huffs, because how would Hau even know if he was grumpy or not? He’s known him for half an hour. Besides, Keith isn’t. he’s reserved and focused, there’s a difference. 

  But Keith has to admit he’s curious. He raises an eyebrow, glancing up at Hau. “What happened to him?” 

  “I married him,” Hau says with a rich laugh, one that only grows stronger as Keith stares at him with wide eyes. Keith reminds Hau of _Gladion_? The head of the Aether Foundation? How? Keith furrows his brow, trying to see a similarity between them besides both of them liking Pokémon, which is true for well, everyone. Hau clasps his shoulder a little tighter, as though to get his attention back. “But let me give you some advice, Keith. Don’t push your friends away, even when they’re annoying you or you think you’re better off alone. We’re all better off and stronger the more people we have in our life. Take it from an old man.” 

  “I – yeah,” Keith mutters in a small voice, glancing up at Hau, who is giving him a knowing smile. Keith glances back at Hunk and Lance, both of them still smiling over at him, like he wasn’t kind of a jerk five minutes ago, like he doesn’t do impulsive, idiotic things half the time. Like he’s someone worth caring about to them. Keith doesn’t know if he can be the person they want, but … maybe, if he doesn’t push them away, he can become that person before they realize he isn’t.

  “Keith! You won!” Lance crows from afar as though it’s the same thing as him or Hunk winning, Lance hopping on one foot as Blue flies over his head. Next to him, Hunk grins, gaze soft and inviting as he waves one arm through the air, Amethyst wagging her tail in front of him. And between them is Mona, barking softly as Keith moves closer to them, as though trying to lead him to where he belongs. 

  “Thanks,” Keith says as he glances back and forth between them, bringing a hand up and then stopping mid swing as he realizes he’s not ready to initiate a hug quite yet. He hasn’t even done that with Shiro before. Instead he gives them booth a crooked smile, gently bumping Lance with his shoulder as he walks past him to stand next to Mona and Hunk. “C’mon, Lance, it’s your turn. We want to beat Hau by tonight if we’re going to make it to Akala Island before the weekend.”

 “ Wait, you’re still gonna go with us?” Hunk asks after a beat, suddenly catching on as he narrows his gaze. Keith bites his lip, because maybe Keith’s been reading this wrong, but then Hunk grins, slow and easy, and Keith has to swallow the relief threatening to spill from his lips. Keith glances at Lance, who catches his eye and stares back at him for a moment, expression perfectly neutral.

  “Yeah, I am,” Keith answers them both with a decisive nod, one hand sliding to Mona’s back. That’s when Lance smiles, soft and sweet, like maybe that’s the answer he and Hunk wanted all along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance's Team: Lola the Chikorita, Betsy the Sliggo, Genevieve the Lairon, Winnie the Vaporeon, and Companion animal Blue the Swanblu
> 
> Hunk's Team: Pyrite the Onix, Chalcedony the Carbink, Almandine the Mudbray, Citrine the Kartana, Opal the Togepi, and Companion Animal Amethyst the Rockruff
> 
> Keith's Team: Robert the Lucario, Karen the Gyarados, Spike the Cubone, Seong-Jin the Flareon, Deathclaw the Torracat, and Companion Animal Mona the Houndour


	4. Akala Island

  Lance watches the waves flow out around the boat, taking in the fresh salt air and breeze around his face as he watches the ocean. It’s even more beautiful today than usual to Lance, the bright blues and deep greens blending together into beautiful patterns of waves, the warm green of palm trees on nearby islands waving at him as they pass them, along with the people happily surfing through the waves on their mantines. Lance sighs as he catches hold of a few of those, eyeing them jealously as he watches a surfer do a flip and land on a board and then slide back onto this mantine like it’s nothing. Lance thinks he could’ve done that, could’ve shown Keith that he’s not the only agile one here.

  Could’ve watched Keith do his own cool backflips. But then he and Keith had met a force they couldn’t overcome, not even as a team. Hunk’s puppy dog eyes.

  “I still don’t see why we couldn’t have ridden the mantines,” Keith mutters from where he’s standing by the deck with his arms crossed, pouting out at the sea where other people are doing cool tricks. He looks huffier than genuinely mad, gaze growing longing as he watches someone do a cool flip and lance back perfectly on their board before climbing back onto the mantine. Normally Lance would either be annoyed or confused with Keith, but this time he gets where his (kind of adorable) pout is coming from.

  “Neither do I,” Lance agrees as he glances at Hunk pointedly, because actually, yes, he does. Keith and Lance had both wanted to ride the mantines to town, but someone decided they were too dangerous and they needed to stay on the boat. Even though Lance knows for a fact that he’s a great swimmer and Keith probably is at least okay if he grew up around Tapu Village. The whole thing centers on a beach and nature preserves, and he had the beach to Po Town on the other side of him. They would’ve been fine. Probably. And if not, it would’ve made for a great story when one of them (preferably him) heroically rescued the other from the waves, earning a kiss of gratitude –

  And no, Lance decides he’s not ready to go there just yet.

  “Because some of us don’t want to break our legs right before we fight with everyone on Akala Island,” Hunk tells them both with a quick scoff, turning his nose up in the air at the same he closes his eyes, as though trying to avoid their judgment. Keith glances at Lance out of the corner of his eye and then mimics his eye roll, arms crossing just a hair tighter across his chest. Good, they’re in this together. Hunk slowly opens his eyes, gaze flicking back and forth between the two of them, eyebrows pressing together as he wraps a hand around Amethyst, who’s napping in his lap. “Besides, what would we have done with our companions?”

  “I didn’t think about it,” Keith admits with a sheepish shrug, glancing over at them as he scrunches his eyebrows. He bites his lips as he leans over to pet Mona, who immediately nuzzles into his hand happily. Keith then looks behind him and back at Mona, and then back to the bag, brows furrowing. Lance’s own gaze flickers between the two, not quite able to figure out what Keith thinks Mona needs from the bag. They ate right before they got on the ship and they’re eating again when they get off. “I guess Mona could’ve fit in my backpack?”

  “What? No, we would’ve let them ride with you on the boat,” Lance says as he pokes Hunk in the shoulder, because he never meant Hunk had to ride the mantines too. Hunk’s eyebrows raise in surprise, because apparently he hadn’t gotten that either. Blue chirps sadly on the shoulder, and Lance makes a soft noise of agreement, because yeah, his friends could be kind of ditzy for how smart they are. Then Lance glances over Hunk’s shoulder, smiling as a familiar shore comes into view. “Which is coming into port, which means Hunk better get ready.”

  Keith furrows his brow even further, biting his lip as he glances between them curiously, hands on Mona growing just a bit tighter. Lance gives him a small smile, because it feels like Keith needs one. “For what?”

  “My family,” Hunk tells him with a warm smile, glancing over at Lance as his gaze grows brighter. Sitting there, with the mid-morning sun shining around him and his bangs falling across his face, Hunk is even more gorgeous than usual. His brown eyes actually sparkle, and yeah, this isn’t helping Lance figure out who he has a crush on at _all_. “They’re going to be excited to see both of you too.”

  “I am pretty beloved at Hunk’s house, not to brag,” Lance says as he throws one arm over Hunk’s shoulder, using the other to wave over at his family. He sees Hunk’s mom and mama, both standing on the shore looking equal parts excited and anxious. Lance is sure Robert would be there too if he wasn’t doing an internship at the Aether Foundation, but Lance is sure they’ll see him when they get to their last battle there. As the boat comes into harbor, Hunk rushes ahead of them, almost tripping as he practically lunges onto the dock. Hunk follows a few feet behind, smiling knowingly and glancing back every so often to make sure Keith hasn’t bolted.

  “Hunk! How have you been? How was Memele Island? Did you get hurt?” Hunk’s mom calls as she throws her arms around him in a tight hug, her dark brown curls bouncing across her shoulders. Hunk hugs her back just as tightly, practically lifting her up with the force of his hug, while Amethyst playfully jumps back and forth and side to side, apparently just as excited as Hunk to see his moms. Lance feels himself being pulled into a quick hug and glances up to find Hunk’s mama smiling back at him. Lance returns the hug, giving her a warm smile before he breaks it to let her go hug Hunk too.

  “No, I actually got through my first trial pretty okay, me and Lance and Keith,” Hunk tells them with a small smile, gaze going to the side with embarrassed pride. His moms nods enthusiastically, and then his mama frowns, glancing over and then behind Lance, as though just noticing Keith. To be fair he hasn’t said anything yet, expression carefully blank save the way his eyebrows are sloped down, fingers clenched. Aww, he’s nervous. Hunk smiles brightly at him, grabbing him with one arm as his mom lets go of him and pulling him forward. “This is Keith, we met him in Heahea City.”

   “Oh, Keith it’s so nice to meet another young trainer, you can call me Ayla,” His mama says as she comes over, arms out. Keith stares and holds one hand out, clearly going for a handshake, only to find himself pulled into a tight hug. Keith’s eyes widen and for a second he just stands there stiffly, staring out into the abyss. Lance bites back a laugh as he gives Hunk’s mama a quick hug, watching in amusement as Keith processes the situation he’s found himself in. “I did hate the idea of Lance and Hunk traveling together, three is better than two, don’t you think?”

  “Probably?” Keith murmurs, eyes wide as he awkwardly tries to return the hug, arms so stiff Lance half expects them to turn into stone right now. He glances over at Hunk, only to find the other boy giving Keith a half smile, gaze soft and fond in a way that makes Lance’s heart skip a beat. Jealousy stirs in the pit of his stomach and Lance tries to push it away, because Hunk’s allowed to have to other friends. Keith pulls back from the hug, taking a step back until he’s next to Lance. “I mean, yeah, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Keith.”

  “Yeah, Hunk said that already,” Lance snorts as he throws an arm around Keith’s shoulder to show him there’s no hard feelings this time. He expects to stiffen like he did with Hunk's mama but instead Keith stays relaxed (well, as relaxed as he ever is) and shoots Lance a warm smile, nose scrunching up a bit as he looks up at him. Again, the whole ‘who does Lance have a crush on’ situation is not becoming any clearer. “He’s cute. C’mon, let’s go grab lunch at Hunk’s house and then we can go fight Lana.”

  Lunch is a long, happy affair, the four of them talking for hours and reminiscing about the past, showing off their Pokémon, while Keith … well, he mostly watched, but he did show them his Pokémon. Keith had been shy with Hunk’s moms, almost anxious and Lance could tell they thought he was adorable. But it still through Lance. How alone has Keith been these past few years? How alone was he as a kid? They’re all questions Lance wishes he had answers for, even though he’s not sure it would change anything. Keith is Keith, just like Hunk is Hunk, and maybe that’s just how it is.

  Either way, they escape lunch eventually and start down the winding, grassy path to Lana’s trial, all changed into T-shirts and swimsuits. Lance’s is blue with waves on it, Hunk’s yellow with a sun decal, and Keith’s red with a small torracat in the corner that makes Lance snort. The sun is beating down, warm and bright, and they’re all trying to stay by the trees as much as they can as they make their way closer to the water.

  “Your family’s nice,” Keith mutters to Hunk as they walk down the path, arms hanging at his side. He seemed overwhelmed at Lance, answering each question nervously and one hand attached to Mona the whole meal. Lance raises an eyebrow and Keith looks defensive as he crosses his arms, as though guessing the meaning of his gaze. “Close.”

  “Yeah, I guess we are, though it’s nothing to rival Lance’s family,” Hunk assures him with a bright smile, wriggling his eyebrows a little bit. Lance lets out a warm laugh, shaking his head as he tries to imagine poor Keith with his own family. They’re twice the size of Hunk’s, and it’s impossible to know how many of his siblings may be home for a visit at any given time. It could just be his mom and dad, or it could be all three of his siblings there with all of their Pokémon too. There was no way of knowing and watching Keith try to figure out how to handle a crowd was well, endearing. He comes off so cool the rest of the time (well, cool or confused), seeing him flustered is kind of nice. It makes Keith seem more approachable.

  “Just wait until we get to Paniola Town and you see a hometown hero returning on his victory lap,” Lance tells Keith as he turns on one heel to look the other boy in the eye, smirking widely as Blue chirps loudly on his shoulder. Hunk lets out a small laugh, shaking his head in time with Amethyst, both of them giving him a tender look as Lance continues to crow jokingly. Mona and Keith both cock their head to the left at the same time, expressions equally blank.

  “What did you do?” Keith asks as his eyebrows slope down, mouth forming into a small ‘o’. He leans over a bit, as though he’s genuinely curious to hear about how and why Lance is a hero. Which is … not great, since Lance hasn’t really done anything impressive yet. He’s not an inventor like Hunk or a star trainer in training like Keith was. He’s just Lance, the kid from Paniola Town with big dreams and overly successful siblings to live up to.

  “It was a metaphor, Keith,” Lance mutters as he rolls his eyes, because whatever, he doesn’t need to deal with those worries right now just because Keith wants to dissect his jokes. They have a battle to fight.

  “Oh,” Keith murmurs, expression suddenly very small, gazing off into the distance and – oh. Keith actually didn’t know. Lance feels a little bit like a jerk now.

  “Hey, don’t – hey look, we’re at Lana’s base, you ready to fight some water with some water of our own, Winnie?” Lance calls cheerfully as he tosses out his pokeball, trying to distract from the awkward situation he admittedly helped create. He feels like switching the subject is better than bringing more attention to Keith missing the joke. Keith gives him a small thankful smile, holding up Karen’s ball with a look of determination as the awkwardness from a few seconds ago fades, Hunk in turn pulling out Citrine’s ball. “And Hunk and Keith, you guys too. We’re a team after all.”

* * *

  Hunk knows Lana’s trial is one of the more difficult ones, but he hadn’t known it was this wild. If he had, he might not have … well, he was going to go if Lance and Keith were, and there was no way they were going to skip it. But he might have saved it for last if he knew he was going to end up on the back of a lapras searching the water for totem stickers while surrounded by a bunch of dangerous, potentially man-eating fish Pokémon. But here he is, hugging his Lapras tightly as he moves closer to the other two boys, wishing one of them looked anywhere near as anxious as him.

  Keith looks well, okay, so the confusing thing with Keith is that Hunk’s pretty sure he has anxiety too and that’s why Mona is here, but his triggers are just so different than Hunk’s. because Keith looks excited to be here, smiling widely as he glances around at the Pokémon and runs his fingers through the water. Lance meanwhile, is smiling brightly as he leans back on lapras, like he was made for this trial. And he kind of is, because Lance is a great swimmer. Hunk is too, but he feels like he’ll be less good if he’s swimming for his life. But hey, at least they have an escape route via Karen. He’s never been happier that a magikarp evolved.

  “Okay, we need to get the sticker above that cave, anyone have any idea how we’re going to do that while riding these Lapras?” Hunk points out with a low sigh as he watches the water flow across the lake. All of it heads together to form a small but dangerous looking waterfall that Hunk would rather not deal with. Keith, meanwhile, is eyeing it like it’s some kind of amusement park ride. That doesn’t really reassure Hunk at all about what comes next. “My balance isn’t that good.”

  “But mine is,” Keith answers with a smirk, eyes gleaming as he rolls to his feet on the back of the lapras, carefully positioning himself so he’s at the thickest part of her back. Yeah, Hunk is even more nervous now than he was a few seconds ago, because what if the lapras throws Keith off and that sets off his and Lance’s? Or what if the other Pokémon lurking in these waters decide it’s time to attack Keith and knock him off and drown him or – Hunk feels a hand on his shoulder and looks over to find Lance giving him a soft smile, gently squeezing his shoulder. He wishes he had Amethyst right now, but they had to put her with the trial guide at the gate because of the whole lake deal. But Lance is pretty good at calming Hunk down too.

  “Of course it is, hothead,” Lance scoffs, but there’s something soft in his gaze as he turns away from Hunk and looks over at Keith. For all their brief rivalry, there’s something of an understanding, a kinship of sorts between them that Hunk doesn’t share. Not entirely anyway. He shouldn’t be jealous about it, but Hunk is. He’s always been the one closest to Lance and he felt like he was getting close to Keith and he just, doesn’t want to get left behind. “But actually, this plan might just work. Hunk and I can head off the Wishi-Washi on either side here while you grab the stickers.”

  “But Keith is –“Hunk starts and stops himself, because no. Keith’s the better fighter, but right now they need Keith to get that totem sticker first and foremost. If they don’t get that, they can’t complete their trial. No cowardice today, Lance needs him to be a cowardly lion. His team does too. “Yeah, yeah, let’s do that.”

  Hunk takes out Jasper’s ball, tossing her in the air so she lands on the ground at the same time as Winnie pops out of Lance’s pokeball. Hunk grins over at him, and Lance gives him a bright smile back. Perfectly in synch, like always. Then they turn and yell out their moves, Winnie diving off to the side and creating a barrier of bubbles in front of where Keith is. Jasper lets out an thunderwave seconds later, fur sticking up every direction as he shoots. Electricity spreads through this section of the water – luckily not hitting where Keith is currently sliding off of lapras and climbing up Karen’s long neck – hitting both wishi-washi. The fish let out a loud cry, swimming apart and then coming together into one larger fish. Bingo.

  Lance glances over at him and nods, yelling down at Winnie, who dives under the water and shoots above them with hydro pump. Jasper hits them with a second thunder wave at the same time, the added water and electricity creating a pulse that scatters the fish. This time they don’t come back together, and Hunk grins over at Lance because he’s pretty sure that means they’ve won. Lance smiles back excitedly, watching as the bubbles fade away, revealing Keith standing on Karen’s neck, holding the totem sticker with one hand as he leaps off of her to grab the rocks and get the second one too, Karen and Hunk letting out the same anxious cry until it’s clear Keith will be fine.

  “Hey, good job team,” Lance calls out, smiling as he glances at both of them with a bright smile, though there’s a hesitance to his gaze Hunk doesn’t get. They won. Lance’s plan worked out perfectly, the wishi-washi defeated without either of their Pokémon getting hurt thanks to some quick thinking on both their parts. And Keith has the totem sticker in hand, carefully sliding down from where he’s stills suspended with one leg on the rocks and one leg on the back of the Karen, body twisting and turning like it’s natural for Keith to move with so much agility and flexibility. It kind of reminds Hunk of when Lance dances in his junior coordinator competitions. “Keith are you doing okay up there?”

  “Never better, but we still have some totem Pokémon to beat,” Keith says with another smirk, sliding back into a sitting position on his lapras as he calls a relieved looking Karen back into her pokeball. Keith glances at the two of them, smirking as a mischievous twinkle Hunk’s never seen before enters his gaze. It’s at once adorable and just a little terrifying. But he has to admit this confidence, this joy as he does something exciting or even just silly, looks right on Keith. He’d like to see more of it. “So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going down this waterfall!”

  “Keith -” Hunk cries as he throws his arms out, eyes wide as he watches the lapras move down toward the waterfall. That’s a little past silly or dangerous for his tastes. He knows the lapras will be fine – it’s normal for them to go down waterfalls all the time – but he has no idea if Keith will stay on it. Hunk runs to the side of the waterfall, calling his ride Pokémon back into the ball and looking over the small ledge. Keith and his lapras, apparently as much a daredevil as him, are spinning around in the water gleefully. “That was cool but dangerous!”

  “He’s ridiculous,” Lance says with a low sigh, but his gaze is full of admiration as he watches Keith land gracefully in the middle of the lake after his last spin. Keith’s frame takes on a determined bent as he looks down at the araquanid in the center, Karen flying free from her pokeball and landing in the water in front of the other Pokémon. her expression is just as fierce as Keith’s. “I take the araquanid on the left and you take the one on the right since Keith is busy with the one in the center?”

  “Deal,” Hunk answers with a small gulp, pushing down his worries as he follows Lance to the hill. He can do this, he knows he can. It’s time for him to be the trainer his family wants and the one Lance, Keith, and his Pokémon need. Then he can go become a professor. Hunk slides back onto the back of his lapras, throwing out Citrine right as the araquanid lunges at him. Citrine holds out her sharp arms, swinging her arms in the mirror, hitting the araquanid carefully in the legs and pushing them back.

  Hunk yells out another move, wincing when Citrine cries as she’s fit with some poison. Hunk quickly gives her a dose of full heal. Hunk catches Winnie in the same state out of the corner of his eye and tosses Lance the rest of the full heal. Next to him, Karen is spinning the araquanid in the air, seeming to win his battle with divisive ease. Citrine, now poison free, goes for another quick move and takes out the Araquanid with a fierce slash, the Pokémon letting out a sharp cry and retreating. Keith’s about to go help Lance when he sees a flurries of leaves, a triumphant Lola sitting on top of the rock where the araquanid was. They won again!

  “Congratulations on receiving your Waterium Z,” Lana tells them from the shore as she comes down from the hill, her long blue dress swaying back and forth in the wind. They all come to shore, hopping off their lapras. Lana gives them each a warm smile as she hands each of them a blue stone. Keith slides his onto his Z ring immediately, adding it next to the other two with a quick grin he quickly tries to smother. Lance is a little more obvious, grinning brightly as he slips his own into place, glancing over at Hunk with a soft look. Hunk returns it, his own smile bright as he finishes placing his stone in. They all have three now! “I hope to hear about all your adventures in the future as well.”

  “Oh no worries there, Lana, I promise you’ll be hearing all about me in a few years,” Lance tells her with a flirtatious smile, voice dropping an octave at the same time as he leans in toward her. Hunk’s pretty sure she’s dating someone else, and also, she’s gotta be like 40 by now, but he can feel his heart sink at Lance’s expression. Lance has always flirted with well, not everyone, but a lot of people. Except him. Maybe he’s just not interested in Hunk that way? Plus, Hunk’s had years to make a move and he never did, so he has no one to blame for himself that Lance turned out so cute and everyone else noticed and – he needs to get his mind off of this.

  Hunk grins as they make their way back down the grassy path to his house, Amethyst back at his side and running back and forth in front of him alongside Mona. Above them, Blue is flying, swooping down every few seconds to playfully poke one of them and then swooping back up in the air, the high energy apparently getting to them as much as its getting to the three of them.

  “Well, I’d say that so far this little team of ours is turning out to be pretty damn successful,” Lance crows as he walks backwards facing them both with a bright grin. “Wouldn’t you say so, Keith?”

  “Huh,” Keith murmurs as he glances over at him, scrunching his eyebrows together. He looks genuinely confused for a moment, glancing over at them and then down at himself, as though not realizing for a second that the team includes himself. Then Keith smiles, crooked and open, eyes bright as he looks over at both of them. Hunk feels his heart rise just as much as it fell earlier with Lance, and oh. Maybe he has room in his heart for more than one boy after all. “Oh, yeah, we did okay. I mean, we got the crystals and it didn’t take that long.” 

  “Because we were working together,” Hunk tells him with a warm smile, pressing one hand onto his shoulder with a slight squeeze. Keith doesn’t pull back, doesn’t wince or look away like he’s been doing before. Hunk looks over at Lance, meeting the other boy’s gaze with a knowing grin. They’re both pretty impressed with how they’ve all come in a month. Keith’s smile does get smaller, something almost self-conscious coming into his gaze. Maybe Hunk knows its crooked and he’s embarrassed? “You know you’re pretty cute when you smile.”

  Keith’s eyes go wide, mouth falling open a little bit as he cocks his head to the side. Maybe no one’s ever called him cute before? That’s hard for Hunk to believe because Keith’s pretty adorable, especially when he makes that confused face he makes all the time, but then Keith is kind of a loner, maybe everyone was too intimidated to flirt with him. Not that Hunk’s flirting. he’d know if he was. “Is this – do you guys not care when the other one – I mean, cute doesn’t mean anything, but – “

  “Keith, what’re you trying to say?” Hunk asks as he narrows his gaze, nosiness overtaking him as he leans in toward Keith. Keith flushes a bit, turning his gaze toward the ground and toward the sky, one hand on Mona. The other wraps around Spike’s hand like Keith hopes Spike is so cute with his little pudgy body and bone club and sad green eyes, and Hunk has to admit that might work - on someone less nosy than him.

  “Aren’t you guys dating?” Keith finally blurts out, voice just a hair too loud as he throws his arms out wide. His flush deepens as he looks away from them, eyes darting to the side as though he’s embarrassed about having to ask at all. Hunk can relate because he can’t stop himself from narrowing his gaze at Keith, swallowing deeply as he shakes his head, because no, Lance isn’t into him. Never has been. Hunk catches Lance watching him as he shakes his head vigorously, and if he didn’t know better, he’d almost think something hurt had just flitted across his gaze.

  “Oh my god no,” Lance says as he pulls back, eyes wide and eyebrows shooting toward his forehead, like the idea is so shocking he can’t even process it. That doesn’t make Hunk feel great and he averts his gaze from the two of them to a tree nearby, because at least it’s not going to make him feel awkward or like ants are crawling down his arm. “I didn’t mean it like that! Of course, I’d be lucky to date someone as handsome and brilliant as my boy Hunk here, but I’m single.”

  “And so am I. I dated Shay for a few months like, a year ago, but then she moved to Kanto,” Hunk explains with a small shrug, trying to bury his hurt with a small smile of his own as he turns his gaze back to Lance and Keith. It’s okay, they’ve both dated other people. Hunk’s crush has come and gone in waves before, it will this time too. “And Lance and Nyma -"

  “Is a story for another day, but no, we’re not dating,” Lance tells him as he gently elbows Hunk in the chest, expression tight as he turns his gaze onto Hunk. Lance and Nyma had been … an adventure, to say the least. Lance flushes though, expression going far away and dreamy for a moment, so who even knows if Lance is over her? Hunk knows she’s in Johto right now, but maybe he should encourage his buddy to call her? That’s what good friends did, right? “Why’d you think we were?”

  “I guess, you’re just really close and you both look like that,” Keith murmurs as he glances between them with a small smile of his own. There’s something wistful in his gaze, almost longing, and Hunk wonders how long Keith’s been alone outside of Shiro. he has the feeling it’s been too long. “So, it made sense, but it’s also fine that you’re not.”

  “Thanks for the seal of approval, buddy,” Lance snorts as he shakes his head, playfully ruffling Keith’s hair like they’ve been friends for years and not just a few weeks. Hunk watches the action, watches the way Lance smiles so hard that his eyes crinkle at the side, and feels his stomach churn. Maybe Lance likes Keith now, too. Hunk should be happy about that. He should.

* * *

  Keith wakes up bright and early the next morning, bag already packed and sunscreen on when Hunk and Lance come out of Hunk’s room. They both stare over at him and Keith shrugs, trying to keep his expression as casual as possible (thought for him that somehow always ends up looking more like a scowl). Okay, so he’s kind of excited to start the next part of their trial. He’s never been to Akala Island before except when he got Seong-Jin and he’s wanted to come back ever since, there just wasn’t time and Shiro and Hinata didn’t like him traveling by himself when he was a kid.

  But now he’s 18 and he has two friends to travel with, and well. Keith never really thought he’d get to have this. Not to share with other people. Mona nudges him and he bends over and hugs her, letting out a small smile when Lance and Hunk finally come back, looking more awake and carrying the same large bottles of water Hunk’s mom gave him when he came down the stairs. They take the bus there, Keith staring at the window at every tree they pass until they finally get to the end of route 8 and the entrance to Keith’s dreams. The Lush Jungle.

  “So, this is the Lush Jungle,” Keith whispers as he looks around with wide eyes, mouth slightly open. He’s wanted to go here ever since he was a little kid, loved the idea of the trees and thick grass brushing his ankles, the bright, beautiful flowers surrounding them reminding Keith of all the books he used to have as a little kid. He’s always loved forests and jungles, and his parents always told him they’d take him on vacation here when he was a little older. But then … they weren’t there when he was older, and he never wanted to bother Hinata and Shiro with a vacation when they already took him in, even if he knows they would’ve been nice enough to take him.

  “You look happy,” Lance points out as he bumps shoulders with Keith, raising an eyebrow as he takes in Keith’s expression. Keith cocks his head to the right, bangs falling across his vision and making Lance and Hunk almost look like they’re in soft lighting where they’re standing in front of several bright red flowers. Or maybe that’s just because of how they’re both looking over him, gaze somehow amused and kind at the same time. Lance’s freckles seem to be extra vivid, as is the warm brown color of Hunk’s eyes.

  “You don’t have to sound so surprised, Lance, I’m not always grumpy,” Keith says with a slight smirk, shaking his head at the other boy for a moment as he catches his eyes and tries to shake his mushier thoughts from his mind. Mona bumps his legs a little, Blue chirping at her happily as Amethyst comes to sit next to her. It seems like those three are starting to get along pretty well too. Mona usually just stays close to him. Keith’s smirk morphs into a small smile as Hunk shoots him a curious look, glancing up at the bright green leaves up above. “I like nature. It’s quiet here.”

  “And safe,” Hunk adds with a warm grin of his own, one Keith can’t help returning before he can stop himself. He knows the Lush Jungle isn’t exactly save – there are lurantis everywhere and Keith can’t wait to see one up close – and he’d be disappointed if it was. But something about the way Hunk is looking at him, like he’s precious and likable and _good_ , makes Keith feel safe, kind of like how he felt when he first met Shiro but also different.

  “Not too safe, kids, I have to warn you, everything in this forest can be used to heal or can be used as a weapon,” Mallow calls as she comes into view, coming out from the grass like a ghost and warning Hunk before Keith can. Of course, she did, she’s been working here for decades, even after she started her own stew line. It was Keith’s favorite as a kid too. And Mallow? Well don’t tell Shiro, but she’s tied with Kiawe for his favorite trial captain. “Nice to meet you, Mallow.”

  “Hi!” Keith shouts before he can stop himself, taking a step forward as he stares over at Mallow. He can feel Lance’s eyes boring into him, imagine the way he’s raising one eyebrow, but Keith can’t bring himself to care. Keith’s trying to think of the right thing to say, but it doesn’t matter because the words just keep coming out in a ramble, kind of like when he’s anxious except in a good way. “I’m Keith, from Ula’ula Island. Is it true you have a Tsareena? If we beat your trial can I see her? I mean, if you want to show her to people, I mean, it’s fine, if you don’t -”

  “Take a deep breath, Keith,” Lance says with a slight sigh as he comes to stand by his side, pressing a hand against his shoulder. Keith flicks his gaze over to Lance, biting his lip and feeling grateful and a little annoyed that he probably won’t get to see that Tsareena now. Lance grins brightly at her, but his gaze is still locked on Keith. “He’s a big fan, apparently.”

  “Thank you, it’s always nice to hear I have some,” Mallow answers with a chuckle, shaking her head as she glances over at Keith with a bemused smile. “But you know, this is a double trial now, because once you get through the end of the jungle.”

  “It’s time to climb the mountain,” Kiawe calls as he jumps out of the bushes, landing in front of them with a low thud. Keith’s eyes widen again, mouth falling open slightly as he takes a step back, because he can’t believe it. Mallow and Kiawe in the same spot. It’s like it’s his birthday or a dream or maybe both. Kiawe gives them a warm smile, the lines around his mouth crinkling as he does. “The way to Wela Park is closed off for trainers like yourselves until you defeat all the totem Pokémon here and collect the three stickers. I wish you all luck and can’t wait to see you at the mountain top.”

  “And you will,” Keith promises them in his firmest voice, passion rising in the pit of his stomach as he comes face to face with his childhood idols. He steps forward, forming one hand into a fist at his waist and smiling widely as he looks back and forth between Mallow and Kiawe, ignoring the way Lance is squeezing his other shoulder even tighter. Lance lets go with a huff, just as Keith squares his legs out, eyes bright as he looks over at them both. He’s going to beat these totem and earn Mallow’s and Kiawe’s respect. He knows it in his veins. “Soon.”

  “Are you okay?” Hunk asks in a loud whisper, grabbing him by the shoulder again. Wait, is he acting weird? But Mona didn’t even do anything and usually she lets him know. Keith looks over at Lance and sees the other boy staring at him, one eyebrow quirked and hands at his side loosely. Keith imitates his posture looking away from both of them. Hunk laughs, warm and soft, gazing at Keith like he’s something good again. Oh.

  “What? I’m fine,” Keith answers as he presses his hand on top of Hunk’s, only to quickly pull it back when he realizes how that might look. Keith glances away from Hunk, not wanting to see the confusion and affront in his gaze. He might not want to date Lance (or hasn’t realized he does), but that doesn’t mean he wants to date Keith either.

  Keith, Lance, and Hunk decide to split up once they find out there are three totems, each somewhere deep within the jungle. Keith goes up the rocky hill, trying to find the highest vantage point to search out the totem Pokémon. Keith looks up at the lush trees and realizes they’re all around him. So, he climbs a tree, sitting on one of the thicker branches and pulling out a pokeball. Deathclaw purrs as she stretches out next to him, her head laying in his lap as she gazes down at the path below, gaze fixed as she searches out the Lurantis as well. Then they spot them, as tall as Keith and a bright pink and green.

  The lurantis looks up at the same time as Deathclaw leaps down, flames shooting from her mouth. Keith follows, suit landing neatly on the ground as he watches the totem lurantis flinch back, arms out as it goes onto attack mode. Keith catches deathclaw’s eye and nods, watching as she darts in and out of the path of the razor leaves, getting hit a few times in a way that makes Keith bite his lip. He loves the thrill of the battle, but a lot of times he wishes he could be the one doing the fighting. Deathclaw lets out an angry cry, using fire fist to knock the Lurantis back, pushing them off of their feet. The lurantis cries and uses vine whip, pulling Deathclaw close. Keith bites his lip, because should he have called her back sooner? Did he make a mistake?

  But then Deathclaw’s eyes glow red as she shoots out flames, using flamethrower on her own to push the vines off and the totem lurantis away. Lurantis lets out another cry, dropping the sticker in their hand on to the ground and diving into the forest. Keith takes a few steps forward, picking up the sticker and sliding it into his pocket with a grin. Then his face falls as he runs over to Deathclaw, pulling her into his arms as much as he can (she’s a big cat and he’s … not that big) and pulling out a potion. Keith keeps feeding her until the slightly pained look on her faces fades to a soft purr and warm expression, giving Keith a quick series of kitten licks as he strokes her fur. Then he calls her back into his ball, because that will help her heal even more.

  “That’s all three down,” Keith calls as they all meet up with a totem sticker in hand, grinning as he holds up the totem sticker in the air. Lance gives him a high five with his free hand, grinning brightly as Keith adds the sticker to their pile. Hunk looks over at it with a soft smile as he bends over to give Jasper another sip of MooMoo milk, Jasper curling his bright yellow tail happily. Keith glances at Seong-Jin, but he just makes a happy barking sound as he nudges Keith’s leg. “Or maybe not, I know Mallow likes to put surprises into her trials. So does Kiawe.”

  “You know a lot about these two, huh? What you got some crushes?” Lance asks as he wriggles his eyebrows, slowly inching closer to Keith. Hunk follows suit, though he raises one eyebrow and peers in, as though he’ll know the answer for sure as long as he studies Keith’s face hard enough. Either way, both of them are being intimidating enough to make Keith take a step back, Mona nuzzling his foot.

  “Huh? No, I just think they’re really cool,” Keith explains, voice growing a bit tighter as he looks away from Lance and Hunk and toward the sky. How is he supposed to explain that the people he likes is both of them? Wait. He likes them? Fuck. Okay, so Keith has a crush on Hunk and Lance, the only other two friends he has besides Shiro. Great. That isn’t awkward or doomed from the start at all. Keith knows – people like Lance and Hunk go for people like each other, not people like Keith. It’s fine. “Like, as people I admire. That’s all. You’re the one who flirted with Lana.”

  “Hey! I was being friendly and adorable,” Lance argues, pressing one hand against his hip and turning his nose up toward the sky. Hunk snorts, bumping Lance on the shoulder until Lance finally brings his gaze back down from the sky. “Fine maybe I was flirting a little, but it was _mostly_ the first.”

  “Well, you accomplished it,” Keith tells him with a grin, surprising himself with the raspy edge to his voice. Is he flirting now? That’s what Shiro’s voice kind of sounds like when he talks to Matt, except less awkward. Maybe he is. Keith bites his lip and takes a few deep breaths, trying to keep his thoughts and emotions at bay, the way they belong. He’s not going to let some idiotic crush ruin this friendship. Besides, Keith probably won’t see Lance and Hunk again after the island challenge, so he might as well keep things … nice for as long as he can. They deserve that much, even if Keith doesn’t.

  Lance looks confused for a second, eyebrows sloping down as his eyes go wide. “Hey! Wait, was that a compliment?”

  “Sounded like it,” Hunk murmurs softly, grinning over at them as he cheerfully throws his arms around both their shoulders. But Keith can’t help but notice a wistful, almost hurt quality to Hunk’s voice. Keith wonders if Hunk’s upset at him for flirting with Lance, if he likes Lance after all and Keith’s being an asshole. But then he catches Hunk’s gaze flicking to him with that expression, just for an instant, and a part of Keith wonders if Hunk is jealous over _him_. But why would someone like Hunk like someone like him?

  Keith shakes the thought away and leads the other two down the path toward the mountains, out through the back of the jungle to the molten rock. Keith stops several feet in front of them, eyes wide as he strokes Mona’s head. Besides the jungle, this is the other part of Akala Island Keith’s always dreamed of seeing.

  “Up the mountain we go, are you guys ready?” Keith calls as he gets to the rocks, turning around to face his friends. Lance rolls his eyes, but nods and Keith can see the way he’s bopping one foot up and down in excitement too. Hunk is gazing at the rocks, holding out his pokedex and probably gathering information Keith wouldn’t even be able to read. Keith glances up at the sky, gaze going far away and a sense of disconnect taking over him. “You know, when I was a kid, I always dreamed of this moment, climbing the tallest mountain peaks, seeing the stars and ocean and how we’re all connected.”

  “You’re adorable,” Hunk tells Keith with a wide grin, gaze soft and amused as he looks over at him. This time Keith can see warmth there from before, but there’s something playful, charming about his smile as he leans his head toward Keith. Maybe – maybe Hunk likes him back? Just a little? Did people call their friends adorable? “Sorry! I mean – that, but in a manly way.”

  “No, it’s okay, thank you, Hunk,” Keith answers back, his own gaze softening as he brushes shoulders with the other boy. He turns to say something to Lance, only to find him already pushing his way up the mountain. Keith blinks owlishly as he meets Hunk’s surprised gaze, but all Hunk does is shrug and follow. Keith does too after a beat, deciding Lance must just really be in the mood for a fight. God knows Keith can relate to that feeling. He’s sure everything will be less tense after they beat Olivia.

* * *

  The battle with Kiawe is fierce and includes just as many selfies as Lance wants in a battle (though Keith seemed anxious every time the camera turned towards him) but they managed it, defeating the two Salazzles and the Marrowak, only two of their Pokémon fainting. Lance just … wishes he’d been more involved with the fight. It kind of had been the Hunk and Keith show. Lance doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight, not at all, but he still wants to be in it. And well, Winnie got a good water gun in during the first fight, but then she got hit with poison, and Karen had taken down the totem Pokémon by the time Lance finished giving her a full heal.

  Then, before he could even make a move, Karen dived after the next salazzle, and while that fight lasted longer and included Karen getting hit with a bit of poison, but not enough to take her out of the fight. One hydro pump and a hurricane later, and two Pokémon were down with Lance making one paltry move. He thought he’d finally get his chance to play hero when marowak popped out and Keith froze, expression growing soft and longing as he stared down at Spike’s pokeball. But then Hunk jumped out and sent Citrine to the battle, her silver arms slashing through the air fiercely. Lance sends Winnie out too, but there isn’t even time for her to get a move in with how fast they were both moving. The battle was over before it begun.

  Lance is happy for Hunk to get more experience and he knows Keith is a great trainer, but he just kind of … feels like the odd man out. The fact that he thinks Hunk and Keith might like each other doesn’t help, because well, he has crushes on one of them and he’s going to figure out who, but why would they pick him over each other? Lance wouldn’t. Still, the week that’s passed since they handled the first half of the Akala challenge has been nice. They spent a lot of time showing Keith around Heahea City and Paniola Town, and Lance even tried to teach Keith how to milk a Miltank to … mixed results and Keith getting sprayed with milk in the face, but honestly, that had been pretty funny.

  Lance is happy, he’s glad to be with his friends enjoying their travels together. He’s just worried about what will happen when they realize they don’t need him. That’s the thing keeping him up right now the night before they’re going to fight Olivia.

  “Okay, now it’s time to battle Olivia,” Lance announces as they all sit around his bedroom, Keith in his sleeping bag on the floor and Hunk on his air mattress. Keith nods from his sleeping bag, eyes already half-closed and hair sticking up in at least three directions. Lance frowns tightly at the sight, reaching into his bedside drawer and tossing Keith one of his sister Maya’s hair ties. It fits him square in the face, Keith blinking owlishly as he sits up and Lance quickly turns his attention back to Hunk, because that feels safer right now. “The cutest yet most powerful trainer there is.”

  “Wow, you might actually have stars in your eyes right now,” Keith mutters as he glances up at him, a smirk dancing at the corner of his mouth. Keith pulls his hair into a messy bun, a few scattered pieces falling across his face as he looks over and up at him through his lashes.

  “Whatever, Keith, you got them over being on top of a mountain, you don’t have room to talk,” Lance says with a small chortle, watching as Keith’s eyes widen and then he looks up toward the ceiling, a light flush coming over his face. That’s right, two can play at that game. At least Lance has a crush on a person, not a bunch of rocks. Though he has to admit, the blush only made Keith seem cuter than he did a few seconds ago. Lance cocks his head toward Hunk, whose expression he can’t see from here and smiles warmly. “Hunk’s the only cool one here.” 

  “Thanks, Lance,” Hunk answers as he rolls over so he’s facing both of them. He smiles back, gaze flicking between them as he preens for a moment. Then his expression grows wearier, licking his lip as his gaze hits the ceiling. Hunk scrunches his eyebrows together as he slowly brings his eyes back and meets both their eyes at the same time. “I’m pretty nervous though, Olivia’s like the best rock trainer there is. This is kind of a big moment for me and Pyrite and Chalcedony.”

  “I know you’ll do well, you’re a great trainer, Hunk,” Keith tells him with a soft smile, gaze growing warmer as he leans toward Hunk in his sleeping back, gaze somehow becoming even more half-lidded. Maybe they are flirting? Lance pushes the thought aside, turning his gaze back – and pretty much doing a double take as he finds Keith’s gaze on him with that same half-lidded, smiling expression. “We’re all going to do well, right Lance?”

  “Right, of course, I’m going to beat her in like three moves,” Lance answers, going for the self-assurance he can usually fake with ease, but this time he doesn’t even fool himself. He can tell Hunk doesn’t entirely buy it, eyebrows pinching together more as he looks over at him knowingly, and Blue shifts a bit closer to him from where she’s kneeling on her perch, her wings brushing against his face. Lance brushes his hand across her wing softly, eyebrows sloping to the side as his mind goes back to the battles earlier today. He’d only landed two hits. Hunk and Keith could’ve done it all without him.

  Keith bites his lips, gaze narrowing as he sits up, held up by his knuckles. Keith peers over at Lance, gaze discerning and tight as though he’s trying to solve a puzzle and not looking at someone. “… What’s wrong with your face?”

  “Wow, thanks, Keith,” Lance drawls, leaning back against his headboard with a low exhale. Keith immediately winces, eyebrows drawing in and mouth forming into a small pout as he leans back. Lance expects him to either apologize or snap – it seems like it can go either way with Keith – but instead he closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths, mumbling something under his breath. Lance rips his gaze away from to his white and blue comforter, clutching the soft material of the duvet between his fingers.

  “No, I mean, you look anxious. I think,” Keith explains, voice growing a little tighter as he glances at Lance again out of the corner of his eye, as though he can’t tell for sure. Lance scoffs, but then he stops, remembering earlier with the joke. Maybe Keith can’t tell, but he’s trying to, and that counts for something. It’s more than most people do with Lance when he’s worried and if Keith wants to understand even if it’s hard for him, well that means he must care, right? Lance gives Keith a small smile, letting out a quick sigh as he steels himself to answer Keith.

  “I – look, I just don’t want to be the weak link for the battle with the Kahuna,” Lance admits as he hangs his head, not wanting to see the confirmation in their eyes. He feels a hand on his arm, and then another on the other side, and opens his eyes to see two boys staring at him in blind panic. Okay, that isn’t what he expected, Lance has to admit.

  “What are you talking about?” Keith snaps, voice fiery in a way Lance thought was reserved for battle (or when he thought people were stealing Seong-Jin). The one hand on his shoulder is still gentle, but Keith’s free hand is formed into a fist, gaze confused and determined at the same time. Even though he hasn’t really said anything, there is something comforting about Keith being this emotional about Lance insulting himself. Lance can see the wheels turning in Keith’s head, can see him looking for a practical solution. He’s sweet that way.

  “Look, Hunk even if Hunk doesn’t like fighting, he’s a genius who always knows the exact right moment to use any medicine or helping move, and Keith, you’re like an instinctual genius when it comes to know what moves to use. And I’m just Lance,” Lance explains, trying to talk as quickly as possible to avoid the shame rushing through his veins and spreading like an infection. He needs to be practical about this, needs to make them understand what he feels and what’s well, true, because now here they are, and if he keeps himself from getting too upset, he can play this off. Lance doesn’t have to let this become a _thing_.

  “And being just Lance is great and something this team needs!” Hunk insists, speaking with a passion Lance has rarely heard from the other boy. He leans forward until all Lance can see is his warm brown eyes and tight frown, the unwavering faith Lance doesn’t feel like he’s earned, but Hunk is giving him anyway. “Who always comes up with our strategies? Who knows how to calm my nerves or how to know when to let Keith do cool stuff or when he’s being an impulsive idiot?”

  “Hey!” Keith cries, eyes a little wide as he glances over at Hunk, expression colored with surprise. Hunk gives him a quick sheepish smile, and Keith rolls his eyes a little, before moving in so he’s in the same space as Hunk and Lance. They’re all pressed together now, and it feels nice, almost right. Keith gives him a softer look this time, eyebrows sloping down. “But Hunk is right, Lance. You make the team stronger, not weaker. We need you.”

  “Thanks guys – okay, I guess it’s group hug time,” Lance murmurs as Hunk suddenly pulls both of them toward him, wrapping one arm around Keith and one around Lance, almost dislodging him from the bed. Keith lets out a small muffled cry, but quickly settles in, one of his free hands still brushing against Lance. Lance looks down at these two boys who are both wrapped around him and thinks that he could maybe get used to this. But then, Lance thinks, that’s a dangerous thought to have to.

  Lance feels a strong sense of relief as they walk off the bus the next morning, having ridden it to KoniKoni city. Hunk and Keith sat on either side of him, clearly both as excited and anxious as he was, Mona planted in Keith’s lap and Amethyst in Hunk’s, Blue tight on his shoulder.

  This is a big test for them. Memele was hard, but so far Akala has been – not easy, but different. Calmer. They work well together as a team now, and if they beat Olivia that will just cement it further. Lance needs to be part of this battle. They walk toward her at the ruins, Olivia waving at them as she runs down toward them. Her short brown hair is streaked with grey now, but otherwise she looks almost exactly like she does on her first Kahuna photo.

  “Oh, what you three kids, and you’re all coming together?” Olivia calls as she approaches the three of them, waving with a bright grin. Lance returns it, resisting the urge to wink, because Hunk and Keith might get the wrong idea, and besides Olivia is his mom’s friend. It would probably be weird to flirt with her. Olivia rests a hand on her hip, cocking her head as she looks over all three of them with a small smile. “That’s so sweet.”

  “Yeah, we are, and we’re gonna win!” Keith cries as he stands with his feet spread wide, hands bunched into tiny fists like he did before with Mallow and Kiawe. Lance lets out a small chortle as he meets Hunk’s gaze, the other boy cushioning his laugh with a hand pressed to his face. Keith, when the brooding and insecurities leave him for a few seconds, is a bit like a shonen hero, all hotheaded excitement and bright eyes. Lance wonders if this is what he was like before his parents left. The thought makes his stomach twist unexpectedly.

  “He’s a hothead,” Lance calls out to Olivia with a small, knowing grin, ignoring the twist in his stomach and the way it deepens as Keith slides over to Hunk’s slide, the two of them staring at each other. They both seem kind of lost in each other, Hunk whispering in Keith’s ear and pulling a small, quick giggle out of him, lighter and raspier than Lance would’ve expected. Lance … he wanted to be part of the first time they made Keith laugh like that. Lance shakes his head, because he’s the team spokesman here, and this isn’t a confession, it’s a battle. Lance grins as he takes a step toward Olivia. “But we are going to win.”

  Lance watches as Olivia’s nosepass comes out to and catches Keith’s eye, watching as Keith smirks softly and sends Robert out with a quick nod at Lance. Hunk sends Almandine out a second later, the two of them lining up side by side. Now it’s his turn. Lance sends out Lola, who lets out an excited chirp as Lance gives her the nod, razor leaves flying from her and hitting nosepass right in the face. Olivia raises an eyebrow and throws out two more balls and shit! Though Lances guesses that is fair.

  Keith immediately redirects Robert to the midnight lycanroc howling as it lunges toward Almandine, who instead curves around Lola to go head to head with Boldore. Okay, they can do this. Keith’s Robert knocks the lycanroc off his feet, but also gets hit with some gnarly looking stones, and Lance can see Keith’s mind going to that anxious-angry place it can when things seem bad. Lance leans over and squeezes his shoulder at the same time Mona nips his ankle, some of the tension going out of Keith’s face as he glances between them.

   Lance gives him a quick smile before he shouts for Lola to deck, watching as she rolls out and knocks the nosepass over. Then while she’s up close, she hits with another round of razor leaf. The nosepass cries out and hits her with a stone edge, Lola crying as she’s hit with a rock. Lance pulls her back and sends out Winnie, mind firmly locked on his own battle now that he can see on either side of him that Keith and Hunk are both doing okay. Winnie shoots out a water gun as she dives forward, landing on top of the nosepass. She’s always had a flair for the dramatic.

  And just like that the battle is over, Rockium Z’s in their bracelets and Olivia nothing but a distant, beautiful memory as they make their way back to the bus. But this time, Lance feels so happy smiling brightly as he keeps nudging the other two boys with his shoulders and laughing.

  “We beat Olivia, we’re more than halfway done with our island challenge,” Lance mutters, sounding almost in disbelief as he gazes over at Hunk and Keith as they finally arrive back at his house. His parents are still at work, and the three of them are considering an afternoon nap. Spike, Almandine, and Betsy already have, the three of them curled up together on the floor. Jasper, Seong-Jin, and Winnie are playfully rolling around together nearby. Deathclaw is trying to play fight with Genevieve and Onix, and Opal, Lola, and Robert and all eating pokebeans on the deck. All of their Pokémon are in pairs of three. Just like them. “I thought – it’s only been a month. I thought it’d take like a year.”

  “Things go faster when you have a good team,” Hunk tells them both with a warm grin, eyes flicking between them as he curls further into Lance’s couch. He slides one arm over Keith and the other over Lance – only to pull back just as quickly, giving Lance an apologetic look. He doesn’t give one to Keith, pulling a tight frown from Lance, because why is Hunk more worried about him than Keith? Keith’s the one who’s panicked about being touched before, not him. “Hey, I’m gonna get some stuff in from outside, anyone want to help me?”

  “I could use some fresh air,” Keith throws out from the chair next to him, already rolling to use his feet and stretching his spine like he’s part glameow. His compact but lean limbs glisten in the afternoon sun, and the two of them head out the back door together, shoulders bumping together as they reach the door. Hunk and Keith both turn to look back at him, Keith biting his lip and looking strangely hopeful, whereas Hunk looks oddly resigned, as though he’s letting something go.

  “And I’m good with my couch, so I’ll see you two in a few,” Lance teases them lightly, earning a scowl with no heat from Keith, though the hope fades from his gaze and is replaced with something a little sad.  Lance gets a fond eye roll from Hunk, the same sadness tinging his gaze as the two of them both disappear behind the deck door. Lance watches them goes and blinks owlishly, because did, did he do something wrong? Did they want him to come with? Then why didn’t they say so more directly? Bluntness has never been either of their problem (well, in the six weeks he’s known Keith anyway).

  Lance shrugs and goes outside to check, turning his head around the corner to try and find the other two. That’s when he sees them, Keith’s bright red sleeveless hoodie and Hunk’s yellow vest hard to miss. It’s also hard to miss the way they’re standing in each other’s space, feet side by side as Hunk’s foot rests between both of Keith’s worn red tennis shoes. The hardest thing to miss though, the thing Lance can’t take his eyes off are the way Hunk’s lips are brushing over Keith’s.

  Turns out he has a crush on both of them. What a way to figure it out.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance's Team: Lola the Chikorita, Betsy the Sliggo, Genevieve the Lairon, Winnie the Vaporeon, and Companion animal Blue the Swanblu
> 
> Hunk's Team: Pyrite the Onix, Chalcedony the Carbink, Almandine the Mudbray, Citrine the Kartana, Opal the Togepi, and Companion Animal Amethyst the Rockruff
> 
> Keith's Team: Robert the Lucario, Karen the Gyarados, Spike the Cubone, Seong-Jin the Flareon, Deathclaw the Torracat, and Companion Animal Mona the Houndour


	5. Ula'ula Island

Hunk pulls back and stares at Keith, who is gaping at him with his saucer-sized eyes, fingers coming up to press against his lips in confusion. Because, yeah Hunk, the least impulsive person on this team, just kissed someone out of nowhere. And not just someone, but Keith, the guy who’s supposed to be the impulsive one. He turned their world upside down with his mouth.

  Hunk has no idea what he was thinking, other than how nice Keith looks right now, black hair brushing against his neck and eyes and skin glowing in the soft light of the setting sun. but none of that excuses the fact that he should’ve asked Keith first if he wanted to kiss Hunk first. Especially when Hunk isn’t sure if Keith is the one he wants to be kissing or Lance. Well, honestly Hunk wants to kiss both of them, but that probably isn’t going to happen. Hell, neither might happen since Lance doesn’t like him like that and Keith is still prodding his mouth like he doesn’t understand what just touched it.

  “Keith, I shouldn’t have done that,” Hunk blurts out before he can stop himself, wincing a bit when he sees the way Keith’s face crumples, gaze sliding to the ground as he furrows his brow. Yeah, he can see why that probably came off as kind of mean. Hunk holds his hands up in the air, scrunching his eyebrows together as he watches Keith bite his lip and let out a small sigh. Okay, Hunk needs to fix this, because he _does_ like Keith, but he … it’s complicated. “Not because you’re not great or cute, or anything, you’re both those things. I’m just – things are very confusing for me right now, for a lot of reasons.”

  “Lance being one of them?” Keith asks with a crooked smile, gaze teasing and a bit wistful at the same time as he leans in toward Hunk. Hunk’s eyes widen as he stares over at Keith, opening and closing his mouth a few times while Amethyst nuzzles his leg. Keith cocks his head to the side, some of the hurt going out of his gaze as he stares over at Hunk expectantly. He – how did – Hunk knows he hasn’t been obvious about it. He’s been keeping his crush on Lance a secret since he was 13.

  “ _You_ noticed?” Hunk answers his question with a question, scrunching his eyebrows together as he stares at Keith. Keith lets out a sound that’s half laugh, half huff, raising an eyebrow as Hunk keeps staring at him in disbelief. Keith’s not exactly the most socially aware … oh right, maybe it’s kind of rude of him to point that out. So much for Keith being the socially unaware one here. “Sorry I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

  “Yeah, you did,” Keith says with a small laugh, raspy and breaking in the middle, crackling and warm just like the boy it came from okay, so Hunk might like Keith too, along with liking Lance. But he feels like he probably can’t tell Keith that now, five seconds after he told him he shouldn’t have kissed him. Plus Hunk needs to get over Lance again before he dates someone else. He did it once with Shay, so Lance knows he can move forward again, in the future. “And that’s okay, I know I’m not the most aware person. But even I noticed the way you two look at each other.”

  “Lance isn’t interested in me the same way I am in him, Keith,” Hunk mutters shaking his head as his gaze grows a touch heavier. Sure, Lance looks at him like he’s something important or precious or whatever, but that’s just because they’re best friends and Lance is kind like that. Hunk knows how Lance looks when he _likes_ someone, all half-lidded eyes and smirks, and well. It’s a lot like how he looks at Keith. “That’s not something you need to worry about. You see how he flirts with everyone else.”

  “Maybe, but maybe it’s because there aren’t stakes with anyone else like there are with you,” Keith corrects him with a slight smirk, though his gaze is strangely empty as he says the words. Does Keith like Lance? But then Keith’s eyes get a little softer, warmer as he bumps Hunk’s shoulder with his own, Mona and Amethyst darting between them. Keith gives him a wink – it’s unpracticed and his other eye closes halfway too – and walks ahead of him. “You’re a catch, Hunk, trust me.”

  Hunk goes back inside, sitting next to Lance who’s oddly quiet as they start a movie. Keith comes in a few minutes later, sitting slightly apart from them and giving Hunk an encouraging smile that somehow makes Hunk feel a little sad. That’s how they spend the rest of their night, in slightly uncomfortable silence, no one asking the other what’s wrong. Hunk has a restless sleep, and he’s not surprised that everyone but Lance’s parents who greet them with several bags, looks way too exhausted to be going off to another island.

  “I can’t believe you boys are moving on already,” Mrs. Ramirez sighs as she hands them all another small set of bags, this one carrying water bottles for each of them. over the past few days she’s given them all five potions, three full heals, a bag of poke beans each, a toy for their Pokémon, and a several snack bars. Keith’s tried to pay her twice, but gave up under her steely gaze. Hunk laughed, remembering the first time he was in Keith’s shoes. There’s a reason Mrs. Ramirez has never lost a case before. “Lance do you have all the snacks I packed for and your friends? The inflatable poke bed?”

  “Of course mom,” Lance promises her as he gives her a warm smile, leaning in to give her another quick hug. Hunk catches his and gives him a quick grin, though there’s a nervousness in it he hopes that Lance doesn’t notice. He’s not quite ready to explain to the other boy that he likes him. Or that he kissed Keith. Or really anything that happened today.

  Mr. Ramirez snaps another photo of them all by the door, smiling softly as Keith blinks owlishly and Lance sticks his tongue at him. Hunk rubs his eyes a bit afterwards, trying to get the tiny black flecks from out of his eye. Lance’s mom meanwhile, frowns tightly and grabs Lance by the shoulder right before he can get through his front door. Lance stops and turns around, glancing back at her and then to his dad, who looks more anxious now. Lance’s dad hurries halfway across the room, holding up a small bottle pointedly. “What about -”

  “Yes, dad, I got all the potions you bought for me too,” Lance assures him as he his dad makes his way over, pulling Lance into a warm hug as he ruffles his hair. Lance smiles softly and returns the hug with full force, Blue lightly pecking his dad on the cheek before hopping back onto Lance’s shoulder. Lance rubs his hands over his feathers as his dad breaks the hug, tearing up a little as he suddenly pulls Hunk into a tight one as well. Hunk sees Keith wisely inch his way out of the doorway. “Were you guys this bad when Maya went to Kanto?”

  “We were even worse, now call me from the hotel,” Mrs. Ramirez tells him as she gives him one last kiss on the forehead, gaze slightly teary as the three of them walk onto the deck. Lance’s dad lets go of him, giving him one quick pat the on the shoulder. Hunk grins and waves, sliding his way to Keith by the doorway so Lance can get the final wave goodbye. “You two, Hunk and Keith, your Lance’s friends, which means you’re like family.”

  “Of course, Mrs. R,” Hunk calls back with a bright smile, waving enthusiastically as he walks down the stairs. Keith’s eyes widen, mouth slightly open as he stares back at her blankly for a few seconds. Hunk is afraid that they maybe broke Keith. But then Keith nods stiffly, following Hunk down the rest of the stairs. Hunk pats him on the back and leads him down the path, pausing and counting to five when they get to the bus stop, so Lance can catch up.

  Keith glances over at Lance, smiling slightly with a surprisingly tender gaze as he bumps shoulders with him. Lance presses his eyebrows together, shooting Keith an amused, questioning glance, and Hunk thinks that Lance treats Keith differently too, not just him. If Keith’s theory is right, which it probably isn’t. Keith smiles as he turns his gaze between them both. “Your family is really close. That’s nice.”

  “Thanks Keith, they’re pretty great, I have to admit,” Lance murmurs with a small grin, glancing back at his house, getting smaller and smaller in the distance, one last time. Then the bus turns the corner, and just like that his house and Paniola Town are gone and they’re on their way to the docks and Ula’ula Island. Lance swallows, wiping away the slight tears in his eyes as he smiles back at them. then something strange comes into Lance’s gaze, distant in a way Hunk has never known from his best friend. “and a lot of people are close. And getting closer, you know what I mean?”

  “… No?” Keith mutters, gaze flickering back and forth between Lance and Hunk, eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. He wraps his arms around Mona and turns his face to look at the window. But Hunk watches Lance pout and curl up against the other window, and takes a deep breath. Maybe he wasn’t alone when he kissed Keith after all, and maybe, just maybe, Keith is right.

* * *

  Keith gets off of the boat at the harbor by Malie City and turns swiftly in the other direction, letting out a quiet ‘thank you’ when he sees the new bus stop there. Keith … doesn’t like going through Malie City unless he has to, most of the time. Going there just reminds him of what he’s lost, of all the trips to the library and gardens and after school center he used to make with his parents. Now he’d have to make them alone. Well, not alone, Keith thinks to himself, glancing over his shoulder with a tender look at Hunk and Lance. Except they’re both looking less than tender.

  “Wait? We’re getting right on the bus to Mount Hokulani?” Lance cries with an annoyed glare, hands on his hips. Hunk is flicking his eyes between the library and Keith, before settling for a disappointed sigh. Oh. Keith is ruining their trip here because of his own issues. Of course. But he doesn’t want to spend any longer here than he has to. Keith is … he’s a lot older, but it wouldn’t be impossible to recognize him. He doesn’t want anyone to see him and see that sad, helpless little kid he used to be. Not when he’s been feeling that way ever since Shiro started getting on him about being a trial captain. Lance grabs his shoulders, making Keith finally stop in his tracks. “Don’t you wanna play tour guide first, show us around Malie City, take us through the gardens? Anything?”

  “Malie City is … it’s fine,” Keith says quietly, voice taking on an edge as he glances over the city walls that used to be his home. It’s still beautiful, peaceful and full of nature, if in a slightly less authentic way than the Lush Jungle. Keith still misses it, but he doesn’t fit in here anymore. Not ever since his parents up and left him or died or whatever happened. “If you guys want to go look around first, that’s fine. I’m going to go fight Matt.”

  “No way, we’re a team, if you’re going, we’re going! You can give us the tour afterwards,” Lance tells him with a shake of his head, giving one last longing look at the city behind them. Keith glances back at him, eyes widening a little before he gives them both a small grin, Mona letting out a happy bark as Blue flies over and gently nips her bone, Amethyst bumping the other side of her. It’s like Lance and Hunk telling him that whatever’s going on with him, it’s okay. It’s sweet. Too sweet. Keith, he doesn’t deserve that. He hasn’t earned it from them like they’ve earned it from each other and maybe … maybe he’s just getting in their way.

  “Yeah, and maybe then we’ll run into Shiro and you can get some family time in too,” Hunk points out with a small smile, patting Keith on the back as they reach the stop. Keith stiffens a bit, though he still gives Hunk a thin smile that he knows doesn’t reach anywhere near his eyes. He does want to see Shiro, Hinata too, he just wishes the circumstances we’re different. He wants to finish his island trial and be a real trainer, but he has no idea what he wants to do afterwards, except that he doesn’t want to be a trial captain or part of the elite four, or really any type of leader.

  Keith gets off of the bus and doesn’t stop as he walks toward the observatory, though he does shoot Lance and Hunk a bright smile over his shoulders as they look around with wide eyes. Keith has to admit that this place is pretty cool. And he can’t wait for Lance and Hunk to meet Matt Holt, Shiro’s best friend and the smartest person Keith knows along with Hunk and his little sister. Actually, Keith wonders if Pidge might be around here somewhere. If she doesn’t have school, sometimes she hangs out here. But he doesn’t see her in the lobby, and Keith lets out a small sigh of disappointment. Maybe next time he’s here.

   If there is one.

  They walk through the doors at the end of the lobby, down a hallway with bright lights and data Keith can’t read, but he guesses is impressive going by the way Hunk’s eyes light up. The doors at the end slide open, giant volts and wires everywhere, the entire room teeming with electricity, all it connected to the giant maze in the center. Keith hopes one of them is good at mazes. Then the chair in front of him spins around and Keith forgets to think about mazes at all, too stunned by the sight in front of him.

   Keith stares blankly at the person in front of him, the height being the first thing that tips him off that it’s not Matt Holt. The second is that it’s clearly Pidge, even if she has cut off all of her hair since the last time Keith saw her. Keith blinks owlishly as Pidge grins over at him, stepping into the light fully and spreading her arms out. None of that makes Keith any less confused about why she’s at the trial site instead of Matt or why she’s holding up an Electrium Z. “Pidge?! What are you doing here?”

  “Matt got moved up to the Elite Four, and since I’m a scientific genius and not currently doing my trial, I got moved up trial captain,” Pidge crows, pushing her glasses up so they dramatically glint in the light of the electrical current. Keith glances behind his shoulder, finding Hunk with his eyebrows scrunched together as he looks down at Pidge, as though trying to decide if she’s just short or a child. Keith wonders if he should let him know the answer is both. Pidge takes another step forward, catching his eye with a smirk. “What, you think you can’t handle it, Keith?”

  “Of course we can, I just didn’t know that allowed,” Keith says as he squints over at her, bending over at the waist so he can her look her in the eye. Pidge lets out an offended scoff and cross her arms, glaring and pouting at the same time and oh … she’s mocking him. Lance bursts into laughter, warm and bright as his eyes crinkle at the corners, and he’s lucky that he’s so cute like that. Otherwise Keith would be annoyed with him too.

  “Special permission,” Pidge answers with a bright grin as she crosses her arm behind her back, sliding into the chair in front of the maze and electrical currents. She kicks her heels up so they rest on the desk in front of her. Lance raises an eyebrow, looking a little impressed with her moxie. Keith has to agree. “Since Shiro’s Kahuna now, they needed to move people around fast.”

  Keith feels his blood run cold, eyes widening as he takes in the implications of her words. If Shiro was Kahuna, that means Ula’ula Island is short one trial captain. And with how fast the three of them are moving through their trials, Shiro will expect that to be him within a few weeks at most. He might be able to stretch it to a few months if he fights the elite four and goes to the battle tree, but even that’s pushing it. Keith thought – he thought he’d have more time. “Wait, what? Shiro’s Kahuna? Acerola retired already? But then who’s trial captain for Tapu Village?”

  “No one right now, we’re the only island to only have one captain and then a Kahuna, but assuming you even come close to beating my trial, you in a few weeks,” Pidge says as she leans in, giving him a small wink as though that’s good news instead of confirming Keith’s worst fears. Lance looks over at him, gaze narrowing in a mixture of jealousy and pride – even though as far as Keith knows, Lance doesn’t even want to be a trial captain – and Hunk giving him a warm smile as he pats him on the shoulder. Great, now they want him to live up to that too. Why can’t anyone just see him for the failure that he is?

  “What? I – look, let’s just start this, okay?” Keith mutters instead of answering her, crossing his arms as he storms over to the maze. He doesn’t have time for these conversations, they have a totem Pokémon to beat and a maze to put together. At least Matt’s – now Pidge’s – trial is one of the quickest as long as you can solve it. Which … Keith bites his lips glancing over at Hunk and Lance, because strategy really isn’t his thing. Lance and Hunk come over, smiles bright, but it stings a little that this is another thing that Keith can’t do by himself.

  “Hey, are you okay? You’ve been even grumpier and more short-fused than usual since you and Pidge talked,” Lance whispers to him, eyebrows scrunched together as he gently pokes Keith in the shoulder. Keith glances over at him in surprise, because he’s fine – except Mona is watching him and letting out small whimpers because she can’t come over to his side during a trial, and Hunk is watching him with a concerned gaze. Keith flexes his hands a few times, trying to get himself under control. Lance leans in, glancing at Keith tightly and raising one eyebrow pointedly. Oh right, Lance probably wants an answer.

  “I don’t want to be trial captain,” Keith admits, eyes widening at his words, because it’s more than he meant to share with Lance and Hunk. It just kind of came out. He shrugs a little, glancing at the floor as Lance stares at him with wide eyes, as though he can’t imagine anyone not wanting to be a trial captain. Keith guesses moat people can’t. Hunk’s smile is a little more sympathetic, brushing a hand over his shoulder for a second and then pulling it back. Keith swallows, pushing the yellow ball on the maze to the side. Wrong again. “Shiro wants that for me, he always has. But I wouldn’t be any good at it. I’m a loner and strategy isn’t my thing and I just – it’s not what I want.”

  “No, you wanna kiss cute boys,” Lance answers him with a slight scoff as he moves one of the pods around on the maze. The red light goes for him too and Keith heard a loud sigh from the back of the room. Then Lance stops and takes a deep breath, shooting Keith an apologetic smile as he comes to stand by his side, resting one hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, not the point. Look, if you don’t want to be a trial captain, just tell Shiro. he’s your foster brother and your friend, right? He’ll understand if you want to do something else.”

  “You knew about the kiss?! Look it wasn’t – I was – I was feeling insecure and Keith was there and I kissed him, it didn’t mean anything,” Hunk tells Lance as he grabs his shoulder, gaze soft and warm in a way that makes Keith’s heart twist in two. He doesn’t know how Hunk knows Lance knew about the kiss, but the way Lance nods slightly and then gives a pointed look to him makes Keith pretty sure Hunk’s right. Hunk lets go of Lance’s arm and looks sheepish. Eyebrows sloping down as he glances over at Keith. “But right, not what we’re talking about here. Keith, Lance is right. The worst-case scenario is that Shiro is disappointed in you and doesn’t see you as a little brother anymore -”

  “Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m worried about,” Keith mutters tightly, shooting Hunk a small glare that has no real heat behind it. he’s not mad at him, he’s thought about all of those things before, plenty of times. Honestly, it’s kind of nice to know he wouldn’t be the only one thinking them. Keith smiles then, gaze growing warm and grateful as the light goes green as he, Hunk, and Lance all move to the left in sync. Bingo. Keith smirks over them, cracking his knuckles as the room goes dark. “Thanks you guys, I’ll figure it out. Now let’s focus on beating this trial.”

  And they do, taking down the three totem Pokémon fast enough that Pidge is annoyed and impressed, a rare feat for anyone to pull off. But Keith can’t help noticing how much more quickly Hunk and Lance figure out the maze than he does, the way Jasper and Winnie, but also Betsy and Citrine do too even though one is a gooey dragon and the other is a steel pixie. Keith’s good in the fight, sure, but he wasn’t needed. And even as they smile at him, include him, Keith can’t help but wonder if he’s just as much a burden on them as he is on Shiro and Hinata.

  And what does that mean if he can’t be the kind of person they want him to be?

* * *

  Lance is wary as they take the bus down from Mount Hokulani to Tapu Village, wondering if maybe they should take a break. They went to the poke center right after, so that’s not a problem. But Keith is tense and distant, arms crossed as he stares out the window and Mona spreads out across his lap, and it’s making both him and Hunk anxious, Amethyst curling up against Hunk’s chest and Blue nipping at his ear. plus, fighting Shiro is kind of a big deal, since he’s Lance’s trainer idol, so he wouldn’t mind resting and getting his head on straight before he did. But when the bus arrives in Tapu Village, Keith storms off down the stone path with the same determination that he did when they left Akala this morning. Okay then.

  “So this is Tapu Village, I have to admit it has a certain stony charm now that it’s being rebuilt,” Lance says as he walks across the cobblestones, glancing at the local stores with a small smile. It’s not what he expected from the stories he used to hear as a little kid about how destroyed it got, tiny buildings lining the street. He notices though, all of the shops are small and have greenery everywhere, gardens in the backyard and cactus nearby and vines growing up the sides. He guesses that’s what happens when a Pokémon deity destroys most of your town for not respecting nature. “Very garden chic.”

  “Thanks,” Keith calls from a few feet behind with a small laugh, rubbing a hand through Mona’s fur. He glances around the village wistfully, eyes finally finding their way to the beach. Lance wonders what it’ll be used for now that they can finally get rid of the ruins from that supermarket. He’d like to come back and visit Shiro and Keith here and see. Lance blinks at the thought, because with him and Hunk back in Heahea after this, he guesses they won’t see much of Keith anymore. “The city put a lot of work into the repairs the past 30 years. Shiro’s mom said there used to only be like 50 people in town. That must have been nice.”

  “Okay, Mr. Misanthrope,” Lance calls back teasingly, wriggling his eyebrows as he stops in front of the stone house with a familiar name on the mailbox. Shirogane. Keith points to it dramatically, opening his mouth and waving over at Hunk. Hunk’s eyes light up as he presses his hand to his mouth, hurrying to the side of the mailbox. Maybe they’ll meet Keith’s foster mom or see baby photos of Keith. If he has any. The thought makes Lance frown, chest tightening, so instead he smiles brightly as Keith comes over to them with his arms crossed. “So this is where you grew up?”

  “Well, here and at Aether House,” Keith murmurs softly as he glances past Lance and down the road, and Lance follows his line of vision. Right. That’s the orphanage for Alola. He’s heard it’s pretty nice, very kid friendly, but without any real deep connections being made. Most of the kids get placed in foster care within a month or two. “After I was 10. Before that I lived in Malie City.”

  Hunk glances over at them, meeting Lance’s worried gaze with a small frown of his own. They both know that Keith didn’t move in with Shiro until he was 13. No wonder he seemed so impressed by their families. But then, Hinata and Shiro must care a lot about him too, right? Lance could see that from the way Shiro looks at Keith, it’s just like how his big brothers and sisters look at him. Keith must know that. Then Lance frowns more tightly, because suddenly the way Keith marched through Malie City makes more sense. “Is that why you didn’t want to go back?”

  “It’s fine,” Keith says in that clenched way that means it isn’t, but Lance doesn’t feel like pushing it right now. They have to go face Shiro and that’s going to be awkward enough as it is. Lance admires him and wants Shiro to be impressed, and he’s worried he’s not going to measure up. The fact that Keith, with all his quick reflexes and hard work, is worried about that too is both calming and makes him twice as nervous somehow.  But they can’t worry about how they feel, not when the trial is on the line. They need to focus, as a team. Keith looks over at them and scowls as he suddenly starts marching toward Aether House. Look, Shiro’s old trial site was in the meadows between here and Po Town, so let’s check there first.”

  “Okay,” Hunk calls as he follows after them, though he’s still watching both of them with a gaze full of intrigue. Keith makes his way down to the beach, shooting a longing glance at the mantines before turning his gaze to Hunk. Keith smiles fondly at him, waving over at a man with a rowboat and Hunk shoots him a small thankful smile. Lance watches them and wonders if Hunk was telling the truth about the kiss meaning nothing. But again, that’s a conversation for later. Right now they have a boat to catch.

  The boat ride is as silent as the bus ride, but at least this time he and Keith can stand side by side on the dock, watching as Karen leaps through the water excitedly, long tail flipping through the air and Winnie swims alongside her in the boat’s section for water Pokémon, Karen occasionally leaning in to gently nudge her. It’s sweet, that they’re friends too. Lance nudges Keith with his shoulder, and Keith smiles a bit, leaning in toward Lance just as the boat reaches the dock. Keith bites his lip and calls Karen back, the moment gone before they could really get it started. Lance sighs and follows Keith down the dock, shrugging when he sees Hunk anxiously watching the other boy march toward the meadows.

  Maybe Keith will calm down now that he’s with the flowers. He does like nature. Then, as though to ruin any chance of calm, Shiro emerges from a wall of red, his black shirt and pants making him a striking image against the red nectar blossoms.

  “Keith, I’m glad to see you’re still traveling with Lance and Hunk,” Shiro says as he glances over the three of them, smile even brighter than on his posters. Lance had been overwhelmed and also very confused the last time he saw Shiro in person, and now he wants to take in as much as he can. He’s taller than Lance expected, eyes a little grayer than the violet of the posters – they stole that from Keith – and hair a little less big, though still impressively styled. He’s better in person Lance decides, warmer in the way he gives both him and Hunk a grateful smile. “They seemed like they would be good friends for you and your team.”

  “Yeah,” Keith mumbles in a small voice, glancing down at the ground and kicking a small rock. Right, Keith’s still afraid that Shiro’s going to be mad at him or reject him for not wanting to be a trial captain. But Lance has to say, he thinks Keith might be overreacting here. Shiro seems pretty chill and he clearly adores Keith and has great taste in friends for Keith. Lance is pretty sure he’ll understand if Keith doesn’t want to be a captain.

  “And I’m sure they’re helping you to grow and mature as a trainer and as a leader for when you’re the one here in a few months,” Shiro adds, voice just a touch firmer this time, gaze tight as he turns it toward Keith. And nope Lance is wrong and suddenly he gets Keith’s fears. Shiro wants this for him, thinks that Keith should be a trial captain in the same way Hunk’s moms used to want him to be the champion of Alola. They dropped that as he got older and it became clear all Hunk would ever want to be is a professor, but between Shiro’s firm gaze and Keith’s mulishness, Lance doesn’t the same conversation went so well here.

  “Or wherever he wants to be,” Hunk calls out, voice slightly strained as he scrunches his eyebrows together. Lance nods firmly, because while he doesn’t want to be involved in a family drama, he is, and Keith is his friend. Lance has to take his side. Besides, he thinks if Shiro thought about it, he’d realize Keith isn’t meant to be a trial captain. Not because he’s too rough around the edges or whatever, because Lance thinks everyone would figure out pretty quickly that he’s a nice kid, but Keith is introverted and curious, needs to have a career where he can set his own schedule to some extent, not one where it’s constantly set for him by strangers. Shiro should know that if he’s Keith’s best friend.

  “Of course,” Shiro assures them, eyes widening a bit as though he thought that was never a question. Oh. Maybe, maybe the issue here is that they haven’t really had this talk, beyond Keith expressing his insecurities and Shiro thinking they’re well … just that. Insecurities. Not a deep unhappiness with the idea. “I just know that Keith isn’t the type to run from responsibility.”

  “Let’s just fight,” Keith mutters with a low sigh, crossing his arms as he stomps over to their side. Lance sighs because he was just fixing this, but also because he’s afraid to fight Shiro. He nervously sends out Winnie and gives her a small, anxious smile, trying to ignore the way Blue is gently nipping his ear. he can do this. He can. Lance isn’t the weak link of their team, he isn’t a failure. Shiro isn’t going to see through him and see the imposter he is, pretending he’s anywhere near as good of a trainer as Keith or Hunk.

  “Are you sure? I thought we could talk some more,” Shiro murmurs with a slight frown, gaze flitting between them as though trying to find the problem. Lance swallows and looks away, because he doesn’t want to give away his or Keith’s worries. The first aren’t Shiro’s problem and the second, well, that’s for Keith to decide to share if he wants. Not Lance. “Well, okay then, welcome to the Kahuna battle of Tapu Village and Po Town. How about we do it three on two? One of you can switch in and out.”

  “Deal,” Lance calls out before anyone can say anything else, because they’re here for a fight, not for a well. Different type of fight. And Lance needs to know that he has some potential as a trainer, that he could this, that he’ll be a champion or at least _could_ be. And the only way to know for sure is to get through every step of this trial.

  Shiro throws out a cloyster that seems twice the size of a normal one to Lance, darting toward them with a speed that shocks Lance. Keith mumbles ‘Meghnad’ under his breath, and Lance quickly tosses Betsy out after them. Shiro then throws out a minior (that Keith helpfully dubs ‘Copernicus’ and Lance is sensing a theme, here). Okay, let’s see how they dealt with some goo. Jasper follows a minute later, shooting out electricity at the same time Meghnad hits them with a Hydro pump, every Pokémon the field getting shocked and soaked at the same time. Hunk winces apologetically, but Lance shakes his head with a smirk, because the key was everyone. Well, everyone but Keith who still hasn’t set a Pokémon out. Keith bites his lip, tossing out … Deathclaw, who looks as confused as Lance feels.

  Fire to fight a cloyster and a minior? Lance looks over at Keith, but his gaze is blazing and unfocused as he shouts out moves, Deathclaw dashing in and out of the fight with a sudden ferocity and fear Lance has seen somewhere before but can’t quite place. She gets in more hits than Lance would expect, but also gets hit enough times that Keith pulls her back suddenly, face clouding with guilt as he takes a step back. Lance gives him a tight look, shaking his head before turning his gaze back to battle. Whatever just happened, Keith seems to be snapping out of it, which is good since Betsy just body slammed Copernicus back into his ball, which means it’s time for the final fight.

  Hunk throws out Pyrite at the same time Shiro sends out a rotom – Neil, Keith mumbles under his breath – and a cottenee – Valentina, which makes Lance actually giggle for a second until he sees Shiro’s glare. Lance throws out Genevieve, grinning over at Keith as he waits for Seong-Jin to come pouncing out of that ball, because now’s the time for fire.  Except Keith sends out Spike the Cubone, because apparently, he’s forgotten how to fight in the past three hours. Great. Like before, Keith gets in several good moves – luckily his instincts aren’t as dulled as his Pokémon picking abilities – but the heavy lifting is left to him and Hunk, though this time at least because Keith is holding back and not because he’s in a rage.

  At the end of the fight, which they just barely win, all of their Pokémon exhausted and drinking potions, Hunk shoots Keith a cold glare before walking off to check on Pyrite and Spike. Lance opens his mouth to yell at Keith when he sees his face, eyes tired and watery, mouth as tight as his clenched fists as he stares down at the ground as Shiro looks at him with complete and utter disappointment. A small, scared part of Lance wonders if this is the outcome Keith wanted, if his sudden fiery anger and then fear and regret all comes back to whatever’s going on inside his head. Lance wishes he’d made him wait a day.

  “Congratulations, Lance, Hunk, you both did great out there,” Shiro tells them as he smiles warmly at both of them, handing them each a Ghostium Z and a Psychium Z. Lance grins back at him, eyebrows sloping down as he carefully adds the stones to his bracelet. He has to admit it feels good, getting a compliment from his idol. Hunk smiles as well, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he takes the stone. Then Shiro turns his gaze to Keith, whose eyes widen, soft smile turning back into a frown like clockwork as Shiro speaks, words kind but tone frustrated. “And Keith, I’m really proud of you. I know you might not see it, but I know you’ll make a good trial captain and Kahuna, Keith. I believe in you. I just wish you believed in yourself.”

  And there it is.

* * *

  Hunk doesn’t quite know how they went from the meadows to the gardens, but he knows that his allergies are thanking him. Well, okay he does know. Keith and Shiro spent half an hour alone talking while Lance and Hunk met Hinata – who gave them really good coffee – and then Keith came out and asked if they wanted to go to Malie City for a few hours. Shiro just walked in the other direction wordlessly, so staying at his house didn’t seem like the best idea, especially since Keith seemed determined to get out of Tapu Village, even if it meant going somewhere else he didn’t like. And okay, so all the thing that led Hunk and lance to this bench are kind of bad, but honestly, he’s just grateful Keith chose Malie City over Po Town.

  Even if Keith, after showing off the library and gardens, did disappear without telling them he was going, beyond that he’d be back in an hour tops. The whole mysterious loner thing’s starting to get old now that Hunk’s seen him blush so many times. But still …

  “I’m glad Keith decided he wanted to go to Malie City after all,” Hunk says with a small, delighted sigh as he watches the sun start to set from one of the gazebos in the garden. He’s a little worried about why Keith changed his mind, asking them if they could in the hotel in Malie City right after they finished fighting Shiro. Lance and Hunk went along with, but Hunk knows that Keith’s going to have to face his future – rather it’s his own or Shiro’s – sooner or later. But in the meantime, they’re here, warm ocean breezes hitting them and flowers blossoming around them, and Hunk wants to enjoy it. “Their library has so many books I’ve never seen before – and since you look bored, are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?”

  “Which is?” Lance asks as he raises an eyebrow, leaning away from Hunk on the bench. Hunk swallows, glancing over at Lance’s face to see if he knows what Hunk is getting, and he thinks the answer is yes from the way he’s biting his lip and staring at the ground like it’s going to swallow him home. Hunk has no idea if that’s a good thing or a bad thing for him, but he does know it seems more promising than him looking happy about Hunk kissing someone else. Probably. That could also just mean he liked Keith but _not_ Hunk.

  “You seemed … upset when I kissed Keith,” Hunk says softly, taking a deep breath as he prepares for both possible romance and heartbreak. Lance looks over at him, wincing a little as his blue eyes fill with hurt, and then he turns back to the ground. Hunk takes a deep breath, leaning in toward Lance and willing his voice not to crack on his next few words. “Is there any chance, Lance, do you _like_ me?”

  “I – no, I mean, of course I do, you’re my best friend, and -” Lance rambles and then cuts himself off mid-word, shaking his head as he stares down at the ground. Lance takes a few deep breaths, Blue poking his face and the rest of his team coming closer and closer to him, Lola brushing his feet on the ground with her face. Then Lance looks up at him with a tight frown, gaze heavy and distant like yesterday. “Yes, I do like you. Romantically. But I know I’m not your type and that you wouldn’t kiss Keith unless you were interested, even if your motivations were … less than stellar.”

  “You’re right, I do like Keith,” Hunk admits with a slight wince, eyebrows scrunching together, because yeah, he didn’t think of the other elephant in the room. He does like Keith, likes his determination and passion, likes how cute he is when he’s confused, how loyal he is to his Pokémon and Shiro. it’s a new like compared to how much he likes Lance’s kindness and quirky sense of humor, his devotion and loyalty to everyone in his life, how he moves his eyebrows when he’s proud of himself. But both of them, Hunk thinks, are the same in a weird way. “But I like you too. I’ve liked you for a long time.”

  “Wait, seriously?” Lance cries as he throws his hands out, eyes wide as he leans in towards Hunk a bit. Hunk nods a bit, smiling in relief as Lance grins over at him like it’s his birthday, his heart unclenching a bit as he brings down one hand to idly brush Almandine’s mane. Then Lance frowns, small and confused. “But you … you like Keith romantically, not just me.”

  “Yeah,” Hunk confirms with a nervous grin, hoping that’s okay and not the end of all of this. He barely got to confess to Lance how he felt. He … he doesn’t know what he’s going to do about Keith, especially since he’s pretty sure that Keith likes Lance, and that would be a weird and painful love triangle for everyone. But Hunk knows he’s doing the right in telling Lance this, in letting his hand come to rest on top of Hunk’s and squeezing it softly, earning a small smile from the other boy.

  “Oh, thank God,” Lance sighs as he leans toward him some more, until their knees are touching on the bench. Hunk scrunches his eyebrows together, giving Lance a questioning look, because why would Lance _want_ him to like Keith too? Unless … Hunk has wondered, before, if there was something between the two of them, if their bickering was more from affection, especially with the way they try to comfort each other. But could his life really be _that_ easy? “I like both of you that way too. The only question is Keith.”

  “Wait what?! He’s been flirting with you in that slap, slap, kiss way for two months,” Hunk tells Lance, giggles escaping his throat as he presses a hand to Lance’s cheek, because yes, yes, his life could. And also because the idea that Lance has no idea that he and Keith have been flirting since they started this journey is so strange to Hunk, so alien to the way he’s watched them get to know each other. Then Lance smiles at him, soft and warm and Hunk can’t stop himself from leaning in and giving Lance a quick kiss, fingers sliding down to his jaw and just barely missing bumping Blue in the face.

  Lance looks up at him with a dreamy expression, letting out a small wolf whistle as they break the kiss off. Hunk has to admit that went better than his kiss with Keith. Though that might be on him. Lance smirks a little, after his flush starts to fade. He brushes his hand across Hunk’s knuckles as he gives him a knowing look. “Well, Keith didn’t exactly seem upset you kissed him!”

  “Wait, so you think … he likes both of us too?” Hunk asks as his eyes widen, because he hasn’t even considered the possibility, but it makes a lot of sense now that he thinks about it. Keith trusts both of them, and Hunk can kind of tell that doesn’t come easily for him, and he wonders if maybe all those small smiles and laughs don’t either. Maybe Keith feels safe to be himself with them in a way he doesn’t most of the time. Hunk knows he’s overthinking this, but he’s nosy and good at reading people, and he thinks, maybe, that he understands Keith.

  “It seems like it’s worth finding out at least,” Lance points out with a bright grin, eyes lighting up a little as he glances around the garden like he expects Keith to appear. But he doesn’t, Lola popping up in front of him instead and throwing vines out at Jasper like she wants to play tug-o-war. Lance and Hunk both break into small giggles, some of the tension fading as Lance shrugs at him. “We could try it out and see how it works out.”

  Hunk nods as he considers Lance’s words, his own gaze taking on a dreamy quality. He runs one hand over Amethyst and brings the other up to pet Chalcedony where she’s floating by his head, because he can see the three of them in Heahea already. “Yeah, I mean you and I were going to go Coordinator school and University in Heahea, and Keith … well, I don’t know what he wants to do besides not be a trial captain, but Heahea has so many different schools and work opportunities, so I know he’ll be able to find something he loves.”

  “Planning a little far ahead there, buddy, we gotta make sure he’s interested first, and speak of the devil,” Lance whispers, pointing down one of the walkways where Mona and Seong-Jin are running ahead of Keith, Spike toddling after. Keith is right with his Pokémon, hugging his black sweatshirt to him like it’s a second skin, hoodie up and casting his face in shadows. Hunk idly wonders why he’s not wearing his jacket, but then he looks adorable in the hoodie too. Hunk swallows as Keith finally stops in front of them, anxiety coming back because now they’re about to get his answer. “Hey Keith, we wanted to talk to you about something kind of important.”

  “Oh good, me too actually,” Keith tells them, voice a little strained as his gaze goes back and forth between the two of them. he seems nervous, and oh man, what if he’s about to confess his love for them? Wouldn’t that be perfect? But then Keith gives them a strained smile, voice small when he next speaks. “Do you think we can get Poni Island’s and Aether Paradise’s trials done in two weeks? I got a ticket for Kanto just now. I can go ahead if you want to take it slower.”

  “No, no, that should be fine,” Hunk promises with an easy smile, though he can’t help but narrow his gaze in confusion. No love confession then, but why is Keith so nervous about that? Why would he think Hunk and Lance would care about him going on vacation? Hunk glances over at Lance, but his mouth is pressed into a thin line, gaze eyebrows sloped to the sides with quiet resignation. Okay then. Hunk turns his gaze back to Keith and he sees the mixture of fear and determination in his gaze, in the way his smile is more of a grimace. Something is wrong, but maybe it’s not. Maybe they’re being paranoid.  “Are you taking a family trip or something to celebrate finishing your trial? Or just a break before you fight the elite four?”

  Keith bites his lip, gaze dropping to the ground below as he buries one hand in Mona’s fur. His voice cracks a bit when he next speaks, but it doesn’t hide the finality of his decision. “No, I’m going to Kanto and I’m not coming back.”

  So much for asking Keith if he wants to try dating them.


End file.
